


Thunder of Zero

by Jsyrin, Rex_Lupin



Series: ToZverse [1]
Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rebuild of Evangelion | Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition, ゼロの使い魔 | Zero no Tsukaima | The Familiar of Zero
Genre: Comedy, Crack, Drama, Explosions, F/F, F/M, Harems, M/M, Multi, Romance, pretty much everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 11:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 73
Words: 93,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20814404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jsyrin/pseuds/Jsyrin, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rex_Lupin/pseuds/Rex_Lupin
Summary: Louise doesn't summon a human, in fact, she doesn't summon a living creature at all! What she does get, though, is a curious red orb that wakes up and calls itself "Ramiel".And it is very, very good at blowing things up.Oh no.





	1. Chapter 1

_My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from the very bottom of my heart - add to my guidance and appear!_

A flash of light, hot and blistering, puncturing through layer after layer of armored crystalline flesh. 

A fleeting moment of calculation- almost too long, the light had broken through another six meters even in the mere nanosecond the calculation took. A thin slice of green cutting across higher dimensional space, just shy of enveloping the core of its being.

A mere hundred meters before certain death at the mercies of physics and a heated packet of light and antimatter burning through its defenseless core.

Calculation after calculation, its core heating up as its processing unit considered every factor, every variable.

A bare instant before death would take its core, it chose to allow the sliver of warped space to take its core, its whole being, into itself. With a tiny puff of light and the loud roar of light superheating the atmosphere around it, the being vanished from its world and into a swirling cacophony of higher dimensional space.

Buffeted around by minute shifts in the dimensional fabric, the being withdrew its mass from the space around it- it had lost a not inconsiderable amount from the damages it had taken in those few seconds before its destruction, but enough remained that structural integrity was not compromised.

Calculations upon calculations piled up, mapping out the dimensional path, mapping out its internal systems, considering all paths of logic.

A searing bolt of light struck through the dimensional tunnel and left its visual sensors blinded.

It screamed, withdrawing more and more mass around itself, piling on layers of geometrically perfect armor that were stripped away by its uncontrolled tumble, leaving its core bare and unprotected, its mass just barely out of reach as the emptiness of the fracturing hole through space tore away its energy.

Still, though, it calculated. It would bide its time- it was alive, it was not taking unacceptable damage. It had a partial path back to its own plane of existence.

Ramiel, the sixth angel, fell through a hole in space and vanished from Earth, with nothing more in its mind but endless numbers and a promise that it _would_ return to fulfill its duty.

Ramiel, the sixth angel, fell through a hole in space heralded by a massive explosion that cloaked its spheroid core in dust and smoke, landing in a grassy plain full of children.  
It was inert.

<>

Louise exhaled in frustration as her spell produced a by now familiar explosion. She could already hear the disdainful whispers of her classmates. 

_‘Figures it would explode...’ _

_‘What else would you expect from the Zero?’ _

_‘Wait, what the hell is that?’ _

Strange, they seemed to be dying off. Louise waved the smoke away from her face. And then she caught sight of what she had summoned, and forgot to breathe. 

There it sat, in a shallow crater where the summoning circle had been. A mountainous orb of red crystal, over seven meters in diameter and utterly dwarfing everyone in the area, even the larger familiars.

_What in Brimir's name...? _

She stepped forwards. _I summoned... This?_

“Miss Vallière?” 

She started. “Yes, professor Colbert?” 

The balding man cleared his throat. “You can, ahem, complete the contract now. As it is.”

Louise turned her gaze at the sphere. “Right.” She took out her wand and cleared her throat. 

"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers; bless this humble being, and make it my familiar."

She pressed her lips on the sphere. _Oh Founder, I feel ridiculous. _

Glowing runes started etching themselves on the crystal orb and it _screamed_. The runes burned into its surface lifted off and began to spread, repeating in two rings that spun around the orb as it lifted into the air. Its inhuman screeches shook the earth with their intensity, sending the familiars in the area into a blind panic as a crushing presence slammed down. This orb, whatever it was, was no mere inert object. It was a monster, a predator, an existence so powerful that its mere presence seemed to darken the sky and chill the air.

Louise stared up at it, dread mixed with an odd resignation resonating within her. _Oh, look. My familiar is a force of terror. Bet we'll end up blowing up even more of the Academy together._ “What are you doing!” she screamed. 

It stopped. The orb oriented itself with a motion almost too fast to track, the two rings of runes slowing their rotation and shifting such that they created almost a cross-like shape, intersecting at two points with each other. One intersection pointed down at Louise, giving the impression of being caught under the eye of an angry god.

The presence of the orb changed suddenly, going from an ancient and unknowable terror to a cold and unfeeling aura. It seemed to be curious as it stared down at Louise, drifting lower until the rings of light that surrounded its core were barely more than a few feet from her face.

A sudden thought crossed her mind. A name, loose as it was, a fleeting feeling of divine fury and endless roars of light and sound. An imprint of a name that held no meaning, but held all the meaning it needed.

_R A M I E L_

“Your name is Ramiel? I like that name,” she offered. “Wait, you're sentient? What are you?” 

Another imprint in her mind, a crushing weight, a divine command, holy light, destruction, a song that could only be heard by her. A single word, bearing the meaning of the divine. The sphere, Ramiel, shuddered as it began to vibrate, a thousand crystal voices letting loose in a choir of song as its core became hidden away in slowly forming plates of crystal that shone sky blue in the morning sun.

_M E S S E N G E R_

The words slipped out before she could catch them. “I don't think you're going to fit into my room.” She immediately slapped her hands over her mouth, eyes going wide. “I'm sorry! I-” 

The humming stopped.

Ramiel looked down at Louise impassively, though it was difficult to discern any emotion on a nearly ten meter tall cube of blue crystal with an orb inside of it. Silently, its crystalline flesh rippled away, taking its core with it as everything seemed to shrink in size, slipping out of reality in a headache inducing manner before all that was left was a two meter tall octahedron of the same sky blue crystal, with a core about the size of a peach just barely visible in its center. The question was clear, though Ramiel stayed silent and still to the point where it was almost unclear if it was even ‘alive’.

Louise blinked. Ramiel had just violated reality by collapsing itself to a ‘human’ size... Because she had wanted her familiar to fit into her room? She couldn't help it, she glanced at Kirche. “I told you my familiar would be cooler than yours, Zerbst.”

<>

It felt.

In and of itself, that was not strange. Its touch sensors had always functioned just fine. But this feeling was not touch.

It was introspection.

It could feel. It could think. It could make its own decisions, and it found itself heeding the orders of this lowly human, this being spawned by- no, this being with an existence that was neither of its progenitor’s white moon nor the other progenitor’s black moon. It could not sense either moon, no matter how far it sent out its signals, waiting for a reply.

It- Ramiel, floated silently in the girl’s- Louise- room, expending just the barest amount of energy as it considered the new sensory data filtering through the ring of text surrounding its core.

A connection via its soul to the soul of its summoner. It was weak, though the strange energy readings within Louise seemed to improve the quality of the connection with every passing second. A mingling of energies, the mass of quantum energy that made up its power source being converted into the strange, unquantifiable _stuff_ that seemed to pool inside Louise’s body.

Ramiel found itself confused, a first for itself, as it normally had no emotion nor capacity to be confused. It also found itself capable of using language created by beings not of its flesh, capable of using words like “stuff” and “Louise”.

Ramiel decided that it quite liked words, though they were limited in scope and did not relay information in a timely, complete manner as well as its normal methods of communication- though the normal method seemed to cause some manner of distress in beings that did not share in the quantum energies that allowed it to function.

Curious.

Perhaps the communication it preferred caused unwelcome changes in the processing cores of those beings, Ramiel mused, then paused as it realized then that its processor core was now capable of thought tangents and multiple lines of calculation.

_Interesting._

Ramiel vibrated, almost overwhelmed with the sheer amount of new things its sensors and processor core could experience. Entire cycles became devoted to assigning previously archived memories to these new experiences, with its vibrations growing in intensity over time in a sound that its new language profile decided to call “giggling”.

All through the night, with the moon high in the sky, Louise slept fitfully while Ramiel’s haunting giggles echoed through the room and into her dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun dawned over the horizon, and Louise found herself groaning awake to a perilous situation: Ramiel had, at some point, discovered the concept of beauty, and decided to hover _directly over her bed_ to stare out the window and watch the sunrise. She stared carefully downwards, biting her lip when she saw the _very_ sharp lower surface of Ramiel hovering less than a foot over her chest.

“You know,” she stated, “I don’t know how, uh, _Messengers_ survive, but humans tend to be rather squishy in our nature, and therefore not overly fond of sharp objects in our internal organs.” _Founder, when did I become so sarcastic?_

Ramiel swivelled in place, then with a quiet hum, it moved away from Louise and shifted its form once again, just barely enough to fit through the open window before returning to watching the sun rise… whilst hovering high off the ground like it was nothing.

Yawning, Louise quitely rose and dressed herself. She felt kind of awful, honestly- Ramiel’s incessant giggling throughout the night had infiltrated her dreams and made horrible nightmares full of things she couldn’t understand, and the amount of times she’d woken in a cold sweat last night had been more than she’d ever want. In all honesty, she just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep until noon, hopefully without Ramiel giggling for hours again.

Still, classes waited for no girl, even one with a familiar as weird as hers.

She glanced at the window. “Come, Ramiel.”

Ramiel slowly floated back over, humming quietly in almost a contented fashion. 

Louise opened her door and walked out, yawning again. Across from the hall, another door opened and Kirche strutted out. The two girls stared at each other for a moment. Then Kirche’s face lit up. 

“Louise! How are you this wonderful morning? Did you sleep well?”

Said girl shot her rival an incredulous stare. “Does it _look_ like I slept well, Zerbst?” _And since when are we on a first-name basis?_

Kirche tapped a finger to her chin. “No, no, you’re right, my darling Louise. Did you-” A strange look passed her face. “Hm. I was going to ask if your familiar kept you up all night, but I don’t think it’s in quite the right _shape_ for something like that...”

Louise exhaled slowly, massaging her temples. “Do you often imagine doing perverted things with other people’s familiars? Or just mine?”

The other girl _stared_ for a moment, eyes wide, before bursting into laughter. “Oh, Louise~! I knew that little sharp tongue was in there somewhere! Is there anything else you can do with it~?”

Louise felt like her face was on fire. “W-what! You! P-pervert!”

While Louise fought a losing battle to keep her composure, Ramiel floated off to the side, looming ominously above Kirche’s familiar- a salamander called Flame- with a silent, judgemental aura that flooded the senses and left the fiery lizard thing quivering upon the floor like it was facing its own personal god.

Kirche immediately noticed. “Flame, what’s wrong? Louise, what is your mean familiar doing to Flame?”

“Hovering,” Louise deadpanned. 

Kirche glared at her. “Seriously. I can feel his discomfort from here. What the hell is it doing?”

Louise shrugged. “Don’t know. Ramiel, what are you doing?”

_I N T I M I D A T I O N_

Ramiel swiveled around feeling entirely too satisfied with itself as it released its silent aura of mounting doom to once more take its place at Louise’s side, secure in the knowledge that it had established dominance over the fleshy creature.

“Asserting its dominance,” Louise blithely translated. “As expected, my familiar is _clearly_ superior to yours.”

The other girl scowled. “You don't know that. You don't even know what gender it is. You don't know what its affinity is. For all you know, it could be as _useless_ as you.”

Louise frowned. She had considered that. And then she had decided she _didn't care_. She had a _familiar now, for Founder's sake._ She smirked. “Awww. Is the Zerbst jealous of little Louise?” 

Kirche narrowed her eyes, gathered her salamander into her arms, and stalked off, leaving a parting remark of ‘see you at breakfast’. Louise tsked. 

“Well, looks like while von Zerbst can dish it out, she can't exactly take it, can she?” She looked towards Ramiel. “Loath I am to admit it though, she had a point. What _is_ your affinity anyway?” 

Ramiel didn’t respond- not verbally at least. Its humming grew louder, more high pitched as it changed shape, the octahedron of its body melting away in the same impossible way before reforming into a cross shape with _four_ cores, each one with its own circle of runes. Ramiel glowed with an ominous power, the cores at each point of the cross generating faint lines of light that intersected along a central axis and-

Louise blinked, suddenly nearly blinded and deafened by the absolutely _ungodly_ ray of energy that had burst forth from Ramiel and just barely whiffed past Kirche’s head before completely _annihilating_ the far wall of the hallway in a blast of heat and energy so powerful that the entire corridor had become sweltering just with the _leftover_ waste heat of the beam.

She looked at Ramiel with lidded eyes. “Positively ludicrous amount of destruction. Right. I'm beginning to see _why_ the spell chose you as my familiar.”

She put her hands on her hips. “I'm going to have to ask you to tone the destruction _down_, at least _indoors_. YES, KIRCHE,” she yelled down the hallway, “I'M PERFECTLY AWARE OF MY HYPOCRISY, BUT I SUDDENLY FIND MYSELF NOT CARING IN CASE YOU WERE ASKING!”

That said, she glanced back at Ramiel. “I'm going down to breakfast. Familiars aren't allowed in the hall. Entertain yourself, I suppose?” 

Her piece said, she marched down towards the Alviss Hall. _I need coffee._

<>

Entertaining itself, Ramiel found, was actually quite a difficult ordeal- one could only fire off so many positron beams at random objects before the energy expenditure vs enjoyment graph dipped too low to be worth it. Still, there was always terrifying the local organic non-sentients (and slightly larger blue sentient). Ramiel found that, upon going over the few memory file it had between its reawakening and near death, it quite enjoyed the expressions of fear on the faces of the lilim. It also found that scaring the non-sentient organisms unconscious was fun until all of them had fallen unconscious, whereupon it quickly became quite boring due to the lack of subjects to impose its utter dominance over.

Perhaps it could move onto establishing dominance of the humans?

Ramiel paused. That was a somewhat contradictory line of thought- was it not subservient now to one of the puny humans? The bond etched into its soul certainly imposed such a rule.

Then again, it was not unfamiliar with the concept of hierarchy within species. Ergo, of course, the more beings it could impose dominance over, the higher its own tentative master (Louise, of course) would rise in station. 

Perhaps.

The line of thought bore further calculation to include other variables. The minor background process devoted to passively learning about the social hierarchy of the world was bumped up a few levels, and Ramiel immediately spun around to head for what a topographical scan of the area designated to be a “library”.

There was research to be done, and in the absence of a connection to its progenitor nor any form of high speed information sharing network, it was left to do things as the humans did- or at least, how it assumed the humans did.

Ramiel paused for a moment, spun around twice in agitation, and resolved to find some method of deleting its new function of “ridiculous random thoughts” before those thought processes could spread and infect the rest of its processor core with inane considerations and half baked theories.

<>

“Miss Valliere?”

Louise _exhaled_. She put the cup of coffee down. She very pointedly did not turn around. “What is it, professor Colbert?”

She heard a slightly nervous cough behind her. She idly pictured the balding man scratching the back of his head. “The headmaster is asking for your presence, miss Valliere.”

She held up a finger. Then she downed the coffee with a single gulp. “I’m coming, professor.” _Five ecu says it’s about Ramiel._

Following the balding man up the stairs, she spied a few melted decorations on the wall. _I really should look into clarifying that destruction of Academy property does not count as acceptable means of enjoyment._

The pair finally reached the highest tower. Professor Colbert knocked.

“Enter.”


	3. Chapter 3

Ramiel hovered within the confines of the Headmaster’s office, spinning slowly whilst shifting through shapes that man was not meant to see. It felt a bit amused, Louise thought, especially since there were definitely more melted things in the Headmaster’s office than there should have been.

Louise inhaled. Then she exhaled. Then she massaged her temples. “Ramiel. Why.”

_E N T E R T A I N M E N T_

Ramiel spun around once more, imprinting the message as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

Apparently at some point it had learned sarcasm.

Louise privately wished Ramiel would learn shame. Or at the very least, social grace.

“I’m going to need to be _exceedingly_ specific with my orders to you, aren’t I?”

Ramiel just giggled in that same infuriatingly robotic manner, shifting back into its octahedron form and hovering back over to Louise’s side, whilst the Headmaster cleared his throat and drew attention back to himself.

“I see you understand fully why I’ve called you here,” he spoke gravely, leveling a stern glare at Louise. “As this... being… is your familiar, you are naturally responsible for its actions. And said actions have cost this school _quite_ a few ecu what with its wanton destruction of property.”

Louise cringed for a moment, then composed herself. “The Valliere family will cover the costs, and I will _reprimand_ my unruly familiar.”

Osmond sighed, pinching his brow. “See to it that you do, miss Valliere. And bear in mind that I will _not_ be so lenient should this incident happen _again.”_

She nodded. “Understood, Headmaster. May I leave now?”

Osmond nodded, all but shooing her off. “You are dismissed. And remember- no more acts of wanton destruction. Failing a spell in class is one thing. Destroying school property at random is _far_ less acceptable.”

Louise nodded. “Then I will keep the wanton destruction to class, headmaster.” _Founder why did I say that._ “Ramiel, come.” She exited with as much dignity as she could muster, with Ramiel following and still giggling without any kind of remorse.

Louise strode down the stairs, fuming. “Honestly! I'd like to say that it's your fault we're in this situation, but _clearly_ it's mine for not giving you clearer orders.” She pinned the octahedron a stare. “One. _Please don't_ destroy any more of Academy property. I'm going to be in enough trouble with... Mother... as it is. Two. If you absolutely _must_ blow something up, _for Founder's sake_ ask for permission. Three. You know what, just keep at my side. You _evidently_ can't be left unsupervised. Understand?”

Ramiel simply hovered closer to Louise, the ever-present humming it made quieting down slightly as it neared. It seemed almost a bit dejected, having never experienced any kind of reprimand before. 

Louise slumped. “And now I feel like I just kicked a puppy. Great.”

Ramiel just spun in place, oblivious to Louise’s feelings as it catalogued its new concepts of ‘shame’ and ‘dejection’.

Sighing, Louise reached out. “Look. It’s okay. You didn’t know. But I let you know now, didn’t I?” She slid her fingers across a facet of her familiar. It felt cool to the touch.

Ramiel hummed quietly, vibrating under Louise’s touch and slowly warming up. It seemed a little less dejected now, and almost seemed eager to do… something. Anything, really. Though of course, it didn’t actually speak to her.

Once again feeling slightly silly, Louise hugged the floating octahedron. “C’mon. Let’s blow up a classroom.” She paused. “And by that I mean let’s go to class; why did I even say that first bit.”

She set off walking towards the Earth tower, Ramiel following along with the same constant humming.

<>

According to the clock, she was late. Louise decided she didn't care. So, naturally, she kicked the door open and marched in. “I'm late,” she informed the teacher. “Headmaster Osmond held me up.”

The teacher, a middle-aged small woman, blinked at her. “Be that as it may, miss Valliere, you still kicked the door open. How about you perform some transmutation for me, and I'll overlook this transgression?” 

Kirche - good heavens, Louise hadn't even noticed her - jumped up in an instant. “Professor Chevreuse, don't! You'll only invite destruction upon yourself!” 

Professor Chevreuse waved her off. “Nonsense. I've heard that miss Vallière is a dedicated worker. Being a little excited over a new familiar doesn't change that.” 

Kirche looked almost desperate. “She'll blow up the classroom!” 

The professor glared at her. “Well, that's my problem then, isn't it?” 

From the sidelines, Louise raised her hand. “To be fair, the Headmaster did give me blanket permission to only blow up classrooms for now.” 

Professor Chevreuse gestured Louise-wards. “There you have it, then. If she does blow up the classroom, she has permission to do that. Now, miss Valliere, if you would?” 

Louise exchanged a bewildered look with Kirche. Then she shrugged, and took out her wand. She pointed it towards the pebbles she assumed was the target. 

What happened next, not even she could predict. 

First, Ramiel immediately began shrinking down whilst making a godawful sound, its form wavering in a way both geometrically beautiful and horrifically organic as it collapsed back in on itself, going from an octahedron down to a spiky cuboid shape that rippled and pulsed with an internal glow.

Second, Louise’s wand glowed a hellish red, the heat spiraling from the tip causing it to emit a vibrating shriek almost exactly mirroring Ramiel’s own terrible cries.

Third, immediately as the previous two events occurred, a massive beam of light _ROARED_ out of the tip of Louise’s wand, searing a path through the air, the table, the floor, the ceiling below, the wall immediately past that, the air outside the tower, and then the ground for several yards, terminating in an earth-shattering explosion that shook the entire academy right down to its foundations.

Finally, sitting at the very bottom of the newly made crater, somehow still intact, were three perfectly round pebbles, each one gleaming with the shine of freshly transmuted copper.

The class stared for a moment. Then Louise stepped forwards and peered into the hole. Then she narrowed her eyes at Ramiel. She opened her mouth. Then she thought better of it, closed her mouth, and squinted into the hole. “Well, I either vaporized the pebbles, or they’re somewhere down there.”

Professor Chevreuse coughed. “Well. I think we’d better send a servant down there to check.” She rung a bell. A servant appeared. 

The professor spoke to it. “Servant, please go to the end of this hole and scout it. Bring back whatever you find. If you find nothing, return and report.” 

The servant nodded and dashed off. Ten minutes later, he returned, panting. He dropped three copper pebbles on the table. Professor Chevreuse's eyes widened. “This was all there was?” The servant nodded. Professor Chevreuse nodded thoughtfully. “You may go.” It dashed off. 

Louise was staring at the copper pieces, mouth open. She wasn't the only one. Kirche looked like she didn't believe what she was seeing. Guiche looked like he was about to faint. Tabitha was simply blinking rapidly. 

Professor Chevreuse smiled happily. “Congratulations, miss Valliere! I did say you were a dedicated worker, didn't I? Just, ah, try to put a little less power into your spells next time, yes?” 

Two thoughts were flashing around in Louise's mind. One, smaller, cynical one pointed out that less power was somewhat of an impossibility now that Ramiel was around. It was however quickly drowned out by the louder, excited chant of ‘I did magic! I did magic! I did magic!’ that was hopping around in her head. 

She did however narrow her eyes slightly Ramiel-wards, mainly out of habit by that point. 

Ramiel said nothing, but shifted just a little bit out of what seemed to be a sense of sheepish embarrassment. It too, seemed to be in a bit of shock, not having expected that much drain (miniscule though it had been overall) from its core, just from a single spell.

Louise sighed. “Is this going to happen every time?”

Ramiel carefully did not respond.

So, naturally, Louise did the only thing she could. She turned to Kirche as announced blithely, “As expected, my Familiar’s superiority to yours is clearly assured.”

<>

Ramiel spun quietly in place, considering the events of earlier. Its core was intact, and energy production resumed at its normal pace, but something tugged at its processing unit- how had Louise managed to siphon off so much energy all at once? Even with the tenuous bond between their souls, the metaphysics governing the link should not have been able to siphon off that much energy at once- in fact, the channeling process alone should have torn Louise into a bloody pile of gore in an instant with how much power raced through her in less than a second and yet the girl was completely fine.

It was a question that boggled its mind (And wasn’t boggle such a fun word now that it was aware of it?).

Still, it was not overly important.

Louise was alive, it was fine, and ergo, as long as Louise did not siphon enough energy to deplete its core, Ramiel had no reason to really care.

It left the line of thought in another subprocess for later.


	4. Chapter 4

Oddly enough, the week afterwards was strangely quiet. Kirche was leaving her alone, Ramiel successfully managed to not blow up the castle, _and_ she managed to not kill any teachers. Granted, there was something going on with Guiche in the background, but since it had nothing to do with her, she didn’t pay much attention to it.

She should have known the peace wouldn’t last.

The familiar showcase was coming up, and she was desperately trying to get Ramiel to learn the concept of “restraint”. The massive holes in the woods indicated things not going all that well, really.

Standing in the middle of the clearing with her familiar hovering beside her, Louise sighed. “Okay. Let’s try that one more time.”

_F R U S T R A T I O N_

Ramiel whirred around, blasting the trees around them in a scintillating display of power, finally deciding to take Louise’s hints and actually tone down the power. Unfortunately, despite the drop in power, the resulting light show still resulted in untold acres of arboreal destruction.

Fortunately, the kinetic impact of the beams managed to snuff out the resulting flames before they could spread, so at least they weren’t in too much danger of burning down the entire forest.

Louise sighed, kneading her forehead. “At least nothing is on fire this time. Can’t you, I don’t know, keep it in a self-contained loop or something?” She looked at her familiar pleadingly.

_N O_

Ramiel spun around and faced Louise, fixing her with a blank reaction so deadpan it was completely obvious despite Ramiel not having any actual body language or a face.

Louise slumped. “So I guess the castle will end up on fire and we'll end up losing the showcase.” She pouted petulantly. “I knew that streak of success wouldn't last...” 

_E L I M I N A T E_

Ramiel spun around again, shining in the dappled sunlight that fell through the leaves above. It seemed quite pleased with its idea, even if said idea was nothing more than blasting all the competition with a low energy plasma ray to put them into a temporary coma for several days.

Louise pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ramiel, _no._ No eliminating the competition. No matter _how_ tempting that is, we'd be suspects instantly, and disqualified immediately.” She exhaled in contemplation. “Let's try again. Can you aim upwards?” 

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

Ramiel spun around, shifting with unreal geometries as its facets unfurled, glowing brightly from within as its normally crimson beam took on a decidedly violet hue, lensed through the structures of its body before unleashing it in a dazzling upward display that carved through the clouds in the sky and turned day into slightly brighter day for all of ten seconds, leaving Louise feeling slightly sunburned and also wondering just how the hell the words “signal beacon mode” could be packed into a simple word of affirmation.

Louise smiled. “And nothing got destroyed!” She hugged her eldritch familiar, making sure not to impale herself on any alien geometries. “I think we’re making progress, at last!”

Ramiel let out something approximating a happy trill, idly shifting around back into cube form so that Louise’s organs would remain where they were supposed to be and not strewn all over the place like a bad art exhibit.

The tiny mage sighed in contentment. Then she withdrew from the hug and grinned. “Now. Think you can repeat that feat of not destroying anything?”

<>

To her delight, Ramiel _could_. So it was an entirely happy Louise who went to bed that night. “I think we could actually win something!” she declared excitedly as she was changing into her nightclothes. “Have a nice night, Ramiel!”

With that statement, Louise was in a content slumber. Her Familiar, though…

Ramiel spun around quietly as Louise slept, figuratively pacing and biting its lip as it considered the strange emotions that had become so deeply ingrained into its core processes as of late. 

It wasn’t rational for it to even consider lowering its power output- after all, it was a war platform meant for mass area destruction until it reached its goal of retrieving the progenitor to restart the seeding of life upon the planet it had been dropped upon, not meant to be the servant/pet of some pubescent lilim shaped magic using child!

And yet, so it was.

So what would it do? It could not terminate the strange thoughts that formed, not without inadvertently damaging core processes. It could not sever the bond, not without damaging its energy emission structures. It could not even find the will to actively _dislike_ having emotions, as they had been the key to discovering the new and all encompassing feeling of _free will._

Tethered as Ramiel was to Louise, it was free in a way it never had been before. Ramiel had been designed from the ground up, its evolution guided and its body manufactured to be an unassailable vessel of the progenitor’s will. Even in its course of action, its only freedoms were in where it analyzed the most efficient attack vector would be, and in self preservation.

But here in Halkeginia, Ramiel had time to think, time to ponder what it enjoyed, what it disliked, what it wanted to do. If it so wished, it could watch the sunrise every day, and watch it set every night. It could behold the moon, find quiet beauty in the forest, appreciate its sheer dominance over every other life form.

It could gently caress Louise’s cheek with an angular pseudopod as she slept, watch over Louise at all times, ensure that all of Louise’s enemies were naught but ash and particulates in the wind.

But still.

The emotions were _troubling_. It was a sheer lack of logic or reason, a set of instinctual responses based off the inefficiencies of organic thought processes and neural patterns.

Ramiel spun quietly, wondering if it would change even more as time progressed, if it would one day soon lose all sense of mathematical rationality in favor of emotional decision making.

Somehow, Ramiel thought, it wouldn’t be so bad either way.


	5. Chapter 5

The morning of the Familiar Expo dawned bright and early, and Louise awoke in a good mood. “Good morning, Ramiel!” she chirped. “Did you sleep well? Or had a nice night? I still haven't figured out if you _actually_ sleep or not...” 

_S A T I S F A C T O R Y_

Ramiel’s answer seemed a bit more curt than usual, its normal smooth blue surface broken up by what seemed to be thousands of fractal layers, each one gleaming in the sun as it seemed to focus its power through thousands upon thousands of dimensionally refractive lenses, dissipating the destructive force and leaving a single spot of azure light beamed down onto the bedroom wall.

Louise tilted her head. “...Are you okay? You sound a bit more listless than usual...”

_F O C U S_

Ramiel’s response was equally short, the facets upon its form rippling as it lensed more light through its own body, heating up slightly as it focused more on getting the effect it was looking for, almost to no avail.

Louise looked between the wall and the familiar. She took a breath. “I’m... going to ask more about this later.” She climbed out of bed and threw some water at her face until she felt a bit better. “I’ll be going to breakfast,” she told Ramiel as she pulled her clothes on. “I need coffee. Will you be okay in here?”

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

Ramiel made some noise of affirmation, preferring instead to continue focusing on its… project. Whatever that was. Something involving lights, from what Louise could tell. Thus satisfied, the girl headed off to breakfast.

_“DARLING!”_

Correction. She headed off into a Zerbst bosom that was blocking her way. Louise mrgled. “Founder’s sake, why must my life involve dastardly boob demons?” she lamented quietly.

The lament only earned her a suffocating hug. “Louise, my darling! How _was_ your night? Are you ready for the Familiar Exhibition? Think you can go one performance without blowing something up?”

Louise extracted herself from Kirche’s grip, scowling at the obnoxious Germanian. “No,” she snarked, “we’re planning on blowing up a moon and establishing ourselves as the Supreme Leader of Halkeginia. None shall question the awesome might of Louise the Supremely Destructive.”

Taking advantage of Kirche’s utterly baffled expression, she slipped past the Zerbst and hid behind Tabitha. “I was never here,” she murmured at the bluenette.

“Inefficient,” was the equally quiet response. Nonetheless, when Kirche shook herself off and tore right past the pair, Louise couldn’t help but smirk smugly at the quiet mage. 

“But effective,” she noted. 

“She'll return,” the other girl pointed out. Louise just grinned and slipped into the opposite direction. There was more than one way downstairs, after all. And hey, maybe the Snowstorm wasn't that bad after all, despite the company she kept?

<>

One kettle of coffee and a hearty breakfast later, Louise and Ramiel stood in the main courtyard. Well, Louise stood and her Familiar hovered above the ground while shifting into various eldritch shapes, but who was counting?

“We'll probably go last,” Louise whispered to her familiar. “Old Osmond most likely wants Tabitha to provide a finale - a dragon is a dragon - and expects to leave us the postscript. But we're going to provide those fools with a Grand Finale instead! Are you prepared?” 

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

Ramiel’s answer was packed with information as usual, a shimmering mass of meaning that seemed to bear the image of a hall of mirrors and thousands of colors. Silently, Ramiel collapsed back into its normal octahedral shape, waiting patiently for the time to cut loose and show off just what it could do.

Most of the other familiars were, in a word, kind of dinky - as were their performances. Montmorency had taught her frog to hop. What excitement. Guiche just pranced around with his mole. Yawn. Kirche taught her salamander to breathe fire. Pathetic Zerbst. 

Tabitha rode her dragon. Okay that _was_ kind of impressive. But she'd seen people ride their familiars before! Even ridden on her mother's manticore! So... Th-that wasn't that impressive or anything... 

And so, Louise strode onto the stage. “Ladies and gentlemen!” she boomed. “You thought the exhibition was impressive so far? You haven't seen nothing yet! I, Louise Françoise de la Valliere, and my familiar, Ramiel - we will give you a spectacle you will _never_ forget!” 

She gestured grandly at her familiar. _“Observe!”_

With a pause for dramatic effect, Ramiel floated to center stage, humming quietly at first before bursting out into a high pitched whine that grew and grew and grew, almost deafeningly loud before its entire form _erupted_ into a geometric display of fractal dimensions, shifting and twirling in impossible manners, crystals forming out of thin air as its true form coalesced, the massive crimson core almost crushing the stage before it took to the air. As the hum changed pitch to become a scream, the core glowed and pulsed with light before hundreds of thousands of beams of light refracted through Ramiel’s form, flashing between dimensions and into strange geometries, reflecting in impossible manners and shifting through millions of colors. Ramiel’s scream became a song as the lights shone brighter, becoming a glittering jewel in the sky as it sang the glory of itself, of its power. Finally, to finish off its performance, Ramiel fired a lance of light into the sky, bursting with heat and power as it refracted through Ramiel’s body and split into a hundred crimson beams, spinning and flashing before dissipating in a flash, with Ramiel folding back in on itself and slamming back into its smaller form with a resounding, echoing _clang._

There was a stunned silence. Dozens of faces stared up at the stage in pure shock. Louise thought she heard a gulp somewhere among the crowd. She grinned in satisfaction. “You may clap.” 

Hesitantly, as if realizing that the wrath of God in all its fury was _not_ about to descend on them, the audience began clapping. Smatteringly at first, and then growing in fervor as the assembled students and professors showered Louise and her familiar with cheers and adoration. Well, mostly just cheers. Louise might have just imagined the rest. Still, all was right in the world.

<>

Mathilda de Saxe-Gotha couldn’t care less about some magical upstart with an overpowered familiar. No, her care was all about the job at the moment. A job that, with everyone else distracted, became a whole lot easier.

She could, however, find a few choice words of thanks to the aforementioned overpowered Familiar - just as she was once again inspecting the vaults, a beam of frankly ridiculous power had simply punched right through! It seemed that luck was firmly on her side now. 

Quickly and with great agility, she had scaled the wall and rappelled herself into the vault itself. Honestly, it was a mess. It looked less like a treasure room and more like a dusty attic. But she knew that there would be treasure within. Her contractor had assured her as much. 

The Staff of Destruction would be there, and she would steal it for them. 

...oh.

Now she knew why that Sheffield woman had insisted she use her golem - the Staff was enormous. Clearly a Titan-class weapon. She shuddered to think what the woman would use it with, but at the end of the day it was none of her business, really. 

Mathilda formed her golem.

<>

It was pure coincidence Louise glanced that way. Nonetheless, she blinked at the sight of an enormous siege golem over at the Academy Vaults.

“Is anyone else seeing that?” she asked rhetorically. No one answered. They were entirely too busy cheering at her. Or they were simply too afraid of Ramiel to stop. Either way, it was becoming somewhat irritating at the moment. 

Louise tilted her head as the golem pulled something out of the vault. It appeared to be an enormous red staff with two prongs on it. She sighed. 

“Ramiel?” she less asked and more stated towards her familiar. “Looks like the school is being robbed. Think you can do something about it?”

_F E A R_

Ramiel immediately began shrieking in a way no one had heard before- in complete and utter _panic_. Its form rippled as it screamed, spikes impaling into the stage as it shucked its smaller form and immediately burst into full on titan sized battle mode, its core glowing with hellish light as it almost instantly fired a beam on pure reflex- a horrid, shrieking, crimson flare of light that tore through the sky just barely above the golem’s head that just barely missed boiling Mathilda alive out of sheer _luck_.

Louise blinked. “D-do I want to know?” she asked no one in particular, idly weaving past the spikes. “You recognized that thing?” 

Ramiel continued shrieking, shrinking back down slightly before erupting into an even larger mass of spikes as the golem began to flee, fear shifting into pure and unholy rage at the sight of the lance.

_A B O M I N A T I O N_

Ramiel began to spin, the forest of spikes extending until it was larger than the entire castle, branching out and backwards before collapsing down and folding into itself, becoming the shape of a star and unfolding larger, larger, _LARGER_, until Ramiel let out an almighty _SCREAM_ and unleashed a full power beam with such force and fury that the impact of the beam against the staff caused the entire golem to _shatter_ from the mere shockwave, before those broken pieces erupted away in a burning hail of molten magma, melting and blowing away from the thunderous atomic heat of Ramiel’s power.

Sighing, Louise palmed her face. “And we were doing so well...” she muttered. “Is it dead now?” 

_S A T I S F A C T I O N_

Ramiel almost purred with delight, shrinking back down to normal with a loud, ringing clang, like unto a bell announcing the death of the thing that had frightened it so. It still seemed a bit shaken, its form ever so slightly asymmetrical compared to its normally flawless geometry, but it was far from the spiky, horrid mess that it had been mere seconds previous.

Louise took her familiar in. Then she took in the molten slag and burning rubble in the distance. And then she took a look at the completely horrified audience. “You can resume clapping now,” she deadpanned. Then she hopped off the stage and marched towards the carnage. “You can stay here if you want,” she told her familiar. “I'll go make sure it _stays_ dead.” 

Honestly, she was kind of concerned over how blasé she was over the entire situation, but chalked it off to having an awesome familiar who _clearly_ needed some reassurance.


	6. Chapter 6

As she predicted, Louise found no sign of the one who had controlled the golem, and all signs of the object Ramiel so feared being reduced to a molten slag. 

Now laying in bed, Ramiel quietly rotating next to her, she once again reflected on how Founder-damned _weird_ it was to have what was quite possibly a literal God as a Familiar, no matter highly heretical the entire concept was. Fortunately, her ability to give a _fuck_ had taken a nosedive, otherwise she was quite certain she'd have hyperventilated herself to death or at the very least insanity by now. 

Did having a God as your familiar make you a God too? Heresy! And yet, didn't it make sense? How she had gained all the elements after gaining Ramiel, albeit wrapped in pure destruction - would that not make her a fledgling god in her own right? Heresy, heresy, heresy, heresy! 

One thing Louise was sure of, despite her crisis of religion. Her mother was going to _kill_ her. For being a heretic. She was sure.

Louise groaned and flopped over. This was too exhausting to ponder over. She just needed some sleep-

There was a quiet knock on the door. Oh for fuck's sake. Grumbling, she got out of bed and yanked the door open. _“What?”_

There was a hooded figure at the door. They raised their hands in a frantic motion. “Not so loud, Louise Françoise! May I come in?” 

Louise Françoise? There was only one person who called her- Louise dropped onto one knee immediately. “Your highness! Thousand apologies - my door is always open for you!” She scrambled out of the way. The Princess? Visiting _her_ in the middle of the night? What an honour! Oh no. Note to self: no mention of _heresy_ to the Princess! 

The hooded figure let her hood down, indeed revealing herself to be Princess Henrietta, her laugh sounding like windchimes. Louise found herself blushing. She'd always liked the Princess’ laugh. 

“Oh Louise Françoise,” laughed the Princess, “How many times have I told you - you don't have to call me ‘your highness’! We were childhood friends - you _can_ call me Henrietta, you know.” 

Louise blushed even more. “O-of course, your, I mean, Henrietta! What, ah, brings you to my room - in the middle of the night - alone - o-oh...” Was this happening this couldn't be happening oh Founder this was happening - “A-are you here to seduce me?” 

Louise drew herself up. “Your - I mean - Henrietta, I am perfectly w-willing to be s-seduced by you-”

She found a finger at her lips and a clear windchime laugh in her ears. “Oh, Louise Françoise! Can't a childhood friend simply catch up with a childhood friend, just like the old times? We could swap stories... Giggle over secrets...”

“P-practice kissing,” Louise muttered, face aflame. She was rewarded with another tinkling laugh. 

“Louise Françoise!” giggled the Princess. “My, my, were you serious with the seduction joke?” 

Okay, this got awkward fast. Change topic, change topic - aha! Louise gestured grandly behind her. “O-oh, Pr- I mean- Henrietta, I wanted to i-introduce you to my f-familiar!” She turned. “This is Ramiel. Say hello to the Princess, Ramiel!” 

Ramiel hovered over quietly, shifting its form a few times before settling on a six sided cuboid. It pulsed gently, humming as if trying to figure out what to say.

_C O L O R F U L_

Ramiel’s response was short and to the point, as always, tinged with excess meaning and weight- in this case, a hefty amount of admiration for…. Henrietta’s hair color?

The Princess giggled, extending her hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ramiel.”

Louise palmed her face. “P- that is- Henrietta, I don’t think my familiar is capable of kissing your hand-”

Another tinkling laugh. “No, no, Louise Françoise!” The Princess shook her head. “I meant - may I touch... it? Her?”

Louise shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Can she, Ramiel?”

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

Ramiel spun around once more, smoothing out and shifting back to its octahedral form, presenting a face to Henrietta without hesitation.

The Princess stroked the smooth crystalline surface, letting out a giggle. “She’s warm, Louise Françoise! Does she warm your bed at night while I’m not around?”

Louise ghked. “P-princess! T-that is completely improper and entirely Zerbstlike! D-don’t say things like that!”

Curse that musical laugh of the Princess! S-seducing her with her wiles- NO MUSTN’T THINK ABOUT THAT NO! She shook her head rapidly to clear out the cobwebs. What had she done to piss off Brimir to suffer punishments like these? What heresy had she committed in a past life - what heresy was she committing in THIS life! A-aside from thinking herself a God earlier- no!

Desperate for _any_ change in topic, Louise took a deep breath. “W-why did you _really_ s-seek me out in the middle of the night, H-Henrietta?”

The Princess grew somber. “Oh, Louise Françoise. I have a terrible mistake I need to correct. I couldn’t _possibly_ ask you to help me, but I knew my heart would not rest if I didn’t even try to.”

Louise’s eyes widened and she dropped on one knee once again. “Whatever it is, Henrietta, if it’s in my power, I shall do it.”

Unexpectedly, she found herself in a hug. “Oh, Louise Françoise! I will forever be grateful with you!” Henrietta pulled herself away - Louise would rather she’d never let go, really - and smiled at her - Louise’s stomach did flipflops - 

“Good. Your mission is to go to Albion, to my cousin Prince Wales, and retrieve a letter I once so foolishly wrote him, long ago. I will give you my ring, it will be to show him that your intentions are genuine. I will send a Griffin Knight to assist you. You shall leave in the morning.”

Riding in the high of the Princess’ unexpected closeness, Louise could only nod happily. The Princess smiled at her. “Oh, thank you, Louise Françoise. Now, why don’t you get some sleep? You’ll need that, I expect.”

Silent as the wind, she was gone. Louise fell back on the bed, a silly grin on her face. A secret mission from the Princess herself! Eeeeeeee!

<>

Ramiel spun quietly in place as Louise slept. It felt… troubled, in some strange way. A secret mission was not its forte- how was one to be subtle when they were a gleaming, polished crystal whose primary attack power was measured in the mountain destroying range?

But no, that was the least of its worries. Ramiel was all but indestructible to approximately everything this world had shown so far. Louise… was not. And given its tiny Master’s fragility, Ramiel felt… worried. Yes, worried.

After all, one wrong move could result in the death of Louise- either from a stray shot or from not being there to intercept an attack.

The thought of Louise dying made Ramiel’s core shudder with both fear and rage. 

Silently spinning in place, Ramiel pledged that should anything come even close to hurting Louise, it would end that thing with all its might and power.

So mote it be.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning found Louise, bright and early, awaiting by the Academy gate. The excitement she had felt at night had waned to a dull, throbbing nervousness as she waited for her “assistant” to arrive. She rubbed her hands and looked next to her. “Do you see anyone yet, Ramiel?”

_S C A N N I N G_

Ramiel spun around once, seemingly not doing anything at all, though its core pulsed slightly with a bit of light for a few moments.

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

In an instant, Ramiel shifted configurations again, sliding through impossible geometries before emitting three beams of light at no more power than the light of a candle, painting a trio of dots- two behind, towards the castle, and one forward, upon the griffon that was swiftly coming in for a landing.

Louise narrowed her eyes at the former two. “We have a tail,” she stated. She glanced up at the oncoming griffon, and her eyes widened. “I recognize her - that’s Viscount Wardes’ familiar!” She glanced at her familiar. “He’s my fiancé, you know. He’s safe. Go check out our tail, will you? No killing!”

Ramiel spun and floated off, charging up a beam just in case. It hummed quietly at first, then louder and louder in warning as it approached the castle once more, its beam casting a hellish crimson glow on the castle walls as it prepared to set someone’s hair on fire and/or give them a very nasty surface level radiation burn.

Louise chuckled despite herself. “Hello, Viscount Wardes,” she greeted cordially. “How have you been?”

“I have been well,” said the man who was climbing down his griffon. “Is it just you and your familiar, my darling Louise?”

Louise hummed in agreement. “Mm. Yes. I expect we'll be able to go on griffinback, as soon as my familiar returns from ousting my _tail.”_

As if on cue, two figures came racing off from the shadows of the castle, as if the scorn of God was chasing after them. Which Louise supposed Ramiel kind of _was._ The pair resolved into... 

Louise rolled her eyes. “Zerbst and Tabitha. How utterly unsurprising. What are you two doing here?” 

The Zerbst, looking oddly sunburned, glared mutely at her. Louise just grinned. 

Ramiel, despite not being able to grin or even express smugness in body language, _oozed_ satisfaction, shifting geometries slightly and letting out a haunting giggle as Kirche flinched away from the shining gem-like surfaces.

Ignoring the antics of Zerbst and Ramiel, Louise turned to the more _reasonable_ half of the pair. “So what's the mad scheme of the Boob Demon this time?” 

Was that - Louise looked closer. Yes, that was an eyeroll. “Adventure. Follow?” 

She pursed her lips. “Only if you manage to _ditch_ Kirche, and can keep up with the griffon.” She gestured at Viscount Wardes, who was leaning against his steed, an amused expression on his face.

Tabitha nodded minutely and snuck off. Louise rubbed her chin. “That reminds me. Ramiel? How fast can you fly?” 

_N E G A T I V E_

Ramiel shifted in a manner that was decidedly put out, expressing some manner of inability to fly higher than about three meters off the ground, nor any faster than a trotting horse- at least, in its small form. In its larger form, it could outpace just about anything, probably, though it would completely negate the ability to have a stealthy mission due to the fact that they would have a _mountain sized_ crystal following them.

Louise frowned. “Damnation. I knew there was a catch somewhere.” 

Wardes, who had been quiet for the past few minutes, spoke up then. “Perhaps we could, ah, tow your familiar behind us as we fly? It appears to be quite capable of hovering. If that was all it had to do...?” 

_H U M I L I A T I O N_

Ramiel’s response was as indignant as it was sudden, a violent shifting of crystal as it let out an ungodly screech to signify its absolute disdain at the idea of being dragged around like some kind of cargo.

Louise crossed her arms. “Oh, and you have a better idea, Oh Great And Powerful Hunk of Crystal?”

Ramiel paused. It spun around a bit, then some more… then some more. After a solid twenty seconds of spinning, it let out a quite pleased hum and began shifting forms once more- withdrawing the bulk of its crystal form and shifting its core slightly, entire sections of it slipping out of reality until all that was left was its shiny red gemstone of a core, covered in a nearly transparent octahedral layer of crystal. The entire sequence left Ramiel no larger than Louise’s fist, and also had the angel _oozing_ smugness despite its now tiny size.

Louise blinked. “That works,” she remarked, slipping her now-tiny Familiar into her breast pocket. She clapped her hands together in satisfaction. “I'm ready to go!” 

Wardes smiled. “Then let's go, my Louise. Come. Climb on.” 

Louise mounted the griffon with ease, playfully glaring at her fiancé. “I've ridden Mother's manticore, you know,” she reminded him. “I know how to mount a beast.” 

Wardes chuckled. “Of course, my Louise. But we must hurry now. Time is growing short.” His Familiar - damnation, Louise had forgotten her name - spread her wings, before flapping them downwards in a single powerful stroke that lifted them all over the castle walls. Louise held onto her fiance and whooped with glee. She still loved flying, after all, having gotten used to rides from her Mother’s familiar.

She wondered if Mother would be happy with her. After all, she had a familiar now. A ridiculously powerful one. Her spells were still hideously destructive, but they worked now, didn’t they? But even the slightest spell was simply too powerful. Just like...

Just like Mother’s. Was she finally coming into her own, or was she becoming like Mother? Louise found that the second option suddenly felt a lot less appealing than it had been before she’d summoned her Familiar.

In her pocket, Ramiel let out a quiet hum, plucking the strings of their bond just a bit. Somehow, it managed to project something of a reassuring presence without outwardly doing anything.

Louise buried her face in Wardes’ back and stayed there.

<>

Tabitha urged Sylphid to fly faster. She had never seen a griffon attempting to outfly a dragon before. Then again, first time for everything. 

Silent as the wind, she and her familiar glided after the Griffon Knight - and Louise. The smaller girl intrigued her, as did her familiar. A very unusual familiar. A very unusual familiar for a very unusual girl.

Before the Summoning Ritual, Tabitha had entertained the possibility of Louise perhaps being a Void Mage. After all, Joseph couldn’t cast a spell worth a damn either - and like Louise, all his spells failed impressively. But after the Scion of House Valliere had completed her Summoning Ritual...

Tabitha was baffled, really. Louise’s Familiar was _not_ a human. Not even close to it. And after she had gained her Familiar, Louise’s spells mysteriously started working.

How interesting.

Yes, Louise de la Valliere was certainly someone to keep an eye on. Hell, in the privacy of her mind, very, _very_ deep privacy, she admitted to herself that the other girl was... kind of adorable really?

She’d keep an eye on the knight too. He didn’t look that trustworthy. Really.

“They won’t escape our sight,” she whispered to Sylphid.

They flew on.


	8. Chapter 8

They stopped in the town on La Rochelle, to feed Wardes’ griffon. (Louise still couldn’t remember her name, blast it, and it was getting too awkward to ask.)

As Wardes left to a nearby merchant’s, Tabitha landed next to Louise. She gave a slight nod as the wind picked up. “Clear.”

Louise smiled. “Was it hard to ditch Zerbst?”

Tabitha shook her head. “Simplicity.” She eyed the other girl. “She won’t like it.”

Louise waved her hand. “I’ll wrestle her later or something.” Strange, Tabitha looked oddly flushed at that statement. “Was our path clear?”

The wind mage nodded, then frowned. “The knight. Trustworthy?”

Louise frowned back. “He’s my _fiance.”_

Tabitha gave her a patient look. “Irrelevant.”

_Now_, Louise felt annoyed. “Are you saying my parents can’t tell if someone is trustworthy or not?”

Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Not infallible,” she stated. “Still human.”

_A M U S E M E N T_

Ramiel projected a bit of good humor from Louise’s shirt pocket, giggling quietly in that haunting, mechanical manner for a bit. Apparently it reveled in the implication that, as it was not human, it was therefore infallible. Or at least, far less fallible than its squishy tiny companions.

Louise crossed her arms, pouting. “I feel like I’m being ganged up on.”

Tabitha reached out and tweaked her nose slightly. “You’re not.”

_L A U G H T E R_

Ramiel’s giggling only increased in volume as it floated out of Louise’s pocket, growing to almost the size of Louise’s head and spinning around idly while floating above her shoulder.

Looking as unamused as she could manage - curse them both for nearly making her giggle when she was supposed to be sulking - Louise flatly pointed a thumb over her shoulder towards her familiar. “Then what do you call this?”

“What do you call what?”

Louise turned. Wardes was standing behind her, arms crossed, but looking faintly amused. She grinned wickedly. “Why you of course, Jean-Jacques! What _do_ we call you if not...” She took note of a sudden flash of alarm in his eyes. “...hot?”

_D I S G U S T_

Ramiel’s response was nothing short of comedically perfect- a perfect blend of mild disdain for Wardes’ general existence and a deadpan desire to fuck with him just for shits and giggles.

Louise nodded in contemplation. “Sorry, Jean-Jacques. The Ramiel has spoken. _Not_ hot.”

Behind her, Tabitha snorted.

Wardes stared at the three of them. “I just thought of something,” he began casually. Almost too casually. “The situation over at Albion is getting worse. The royalists are quite bad off.” Yes, that was a grin. No, Louise didn’t like the look of it one bit. “I can’t _possibly_ lead two teenage girls into a warzone...” Wardes’ grin looked positively evil now. “...without knowing they can _handle_ themselves.”

Louise slowly looked over at Tabitha. The blue-haired mage was slowly lowering her face into her hands.

<>

Louise panted heavily as she stared down Tabitha, looking far more worse for wear than her current opponent.

“How… are you…. So good…?” she asked, gasping for air as she readied the wooden practice sword Wardes had procured for her again. “It doesn’t make any sense…”

"Practice," noted the other girl. She was somewhat smugly leaning on a wooden quarterstaff. 

"This is... ridiculous," Louise panted. "I am... not... going to fight... with a sword," she declared. The effect of said declaration was slightly ruined by Louise still being rather out of breath. 

Wardes, who up until now had been snickering at her, the traitor, spoke up. "What else are you going to fight with? Magic? I know very well that you have problems on that front." 

A savage grin wormed its way onto Louise's face. "Ah, but your... information... is outdated, Jean-Jacques! My magic... _works!_ And it's... greater than... anything I've seen!" 

Wardes' eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "Truly? You've come into your affinity? What is it, then?" 

Louise paused. "I have no idea. Probably fire. Everything... is certainly destructive enough." 

Wardes stared. "How can you have no idea, my darling Louise? If you have come to your affinity, it should be easy to tell. It's okay if you still don't have one. You don't have to lie to me, my Louise." 

Louise scowled. "What it... is, my dear Jean-Jacques, is... not making any sense. If I didn't know... any better... I'd say I have my Familiar's magic. Which is nonsense. Right?" 

The last question was directed at Tabitha. The girl shrugged. "Undetermined." 

Wardes was looking contemplatively between the two girls. "Interesting. Most interesting indeed. Could you show me?" 

Tabitha immediately stepped behind Louise. 

With a flourish of her wand, Louise waved it about for a moment before pointing it forward and letting loose with what could only be described as a beam of purest hellfire, glowing a hellish magenta red as it quickly punched through the wall on the other side of the courtyard… and then the wall beyond that… and the wall beyond that… before it finally petered out almost half a kilometer away, slamming into and igniting a rather large boulder that quickly melted into nothing but a puddle of slag from the sheer amount of energy poured into the flames that danced across its surface.

She gave Wardes her blandest look. "As I said. _Probably_ fire. And now watch _this_." 

With another flourish of her wand, Louise cast a spell straight up into the sky, unleashing yet another beam of hellfire that crashed and roared like thunder, bursting apart at the apex of the sky and instantly manifesting a roiling stormcloud, flashing with crimson lightning and pouring hot, heavy rain that smelled of ozone and fire and slapped against the ground to form thick, gooey puddles of what almost looked like orange-ish blood.

Ramiel spun around curiously as the storm progressed for several minutes, idly poking at the puddles and making little hums as it examined the primordial ooze that Louise had somehow managed to generate.

Tabitha had managed to conjure an impressive umbrella made of solid wind and was perfectly dry. Wardes on the other hand...

Louise giggled. “You look like a mess, Jean-Jacques,” she noted. Indeed, the man looked like a wet cat. Or perhaps a wet fish. He still needed to pick his jaw off the floor.

At Louise’s voice, he snapped out of his funk and stared at her in... yeah, Louise was going to interpret that as an awe as the only other possible option was entirely too Zerbst for her fiance, and therefore unacceptable.

“Oh Brimir, you’re amazing,” he said. Louise preened, all traces of the previous exhaustion gone. She figured it was simply the rush she got from actually casting magic - her spells felt so revitalizing!

Ramiel, meanwhile, just let out a disgusted whine at the display of affection, clearly deeming Wardes too bedraggled and unworthy for Louise’s attentions. And if it drooped a little bit in its flight path, then nobody had to know.

Louise clapped her hands together, feeling smug. “Have we now established that I don’t need a _sword_ to accomplish any wars?”

Wardes looked somewhat unimpressed. The effect was only further ruined by the fact that he was still dripping orange goop. “And what about when you might _lose_ your wand? What would happen then?”

Louise smiled as Tabitha dug herself a bunker with some rather impressive Wind magic. “That’s what I have Ramiel for.” She idly gestured at a nearby mountain peak. “Do your thing, Ramiel!”

With a cacophonous shriek of what could only be assumed to be pure delight, Ramiel spun around, shifting its body through alien geometries as it grew and grew and _grew_, until it was unto the size of a small castle in and of itself, where upon its body unfolded further into a jagged star that glowed with hellish light from its core. A moment passed before a simple flash of light pulsed out from Ramiel’s core, the faintest hint of a beam of light flashing between it and the mountain for the briefest second. Barely half a second later, the entire mountain _exploded_ into a vaporized cloud of magma and smoke, the shockwave rumbling over the city moments later and causing glass to shatter just from the sheer strength of its passing.

The very picture of smug itself, Louise turned to her shell-shocked fiance. "Any further objections?" 

Wardes' eyes rolled back and he collapsed into a dead faint. 

"Overkill," was Tabitha's contribution. The wind mage was, once again, completely unruffled. 

Louise frowned. "One, there is no such thing. Two, _how do you keep doing that?_" 

Tabitha, in a completely uncharacteristic move, giggled at her. "Practice."


	9. Chapter 9

When Wardes had finally recovered from fainting like, as Zerbst would (probably) say, a total bitch, he seemed quite subdued. More than likely, it was the shock from having seen Ramiel casually destroy a whole mountain with ease.

Ramiel had no issue with this, seeing as it seemed to look down on Wardes as something approximating a very large and ugly cockroach.

He looked around. “Why aren’t we in La Rochelle?”

Indeed, they were on a hill slight ways off from the city. From across the valley, the still smoking remains of the mountain could be seen. Louise huffed at him and crossed her arms. “We’re apparently no longer welcome in there. Turns out that a thunderstorm’s worth of orange ooze can be a pain to clean up, and they weren’t very happy about the mountain, either.”

Wardes nodded faintly. “I... I see. Well then.” He coughed. “How did I get here?”

Louise scowled. “If your familiar didn’t like me, you wouldn’t be. Face it, Jean-Jacques - you’re too heavy.”

Ramiel giggled in that same infuriating way, clearly laughing at the slight to Wardes’ weight. It seemed quite unconcerned about the lack of shelter for the night, given its inorganic status, and the fact that it had managed to show off quite a bit was even better for its mood.

Wardes stared at it. “Is your cube of death _mocking_ me?”

_Y E S_

Ramiel’s curt response was as shockingly short and simple as it was strangely verbose- a single, palpable confirmation of the fact that not only did it loathe Wardes’ general appearance and existence, but also that it was thoroughly enjoying every little bit of humor it could derive from mocking him.

Louise, however, was looking at her familiar oddly. “Ramiel... why do you think he’s untrustworthy?” She ignored Wardes’ indignant “What!” behind her.

_U G L Y_

Ramiel responded with nothing short of absolute disdain of Wardes’ entire appearance- his ugly choice of clothes, his horrible facial hair, his honestly stupid looking hair style, his bad breath, his generally stuck up and foppish looking demeanor, the fact that she generally got a bad vibe from him, and also did it mention that it _really_ hated his facial hair?

Louise rolled her eyes. “Bad breath I can understand.” She once again ignored an indignant “Hey!” from her fiance. “But are you sure his goatee can’t be salvaged?”

_D E S T R O Y_

Ramiel spun around in agitation, aiming at Wardes’ facial hair in preparation to just singe it all off his smug, pompous face. 

As Wardes yelped and covered his face, Tabitha finished her quiet snickering over his misfortunes. “Mission,” she reminded.

Ramiel made some kind of a disappointed whine, shrinking back down to its shrunken, pocket sized form and slipping back into Louise’s blouse with a hum that almost sounded more like a grumble.

Louise crossed her arms, sighing. “Right. Mission. The mission to head off to Albion. And it looks like we can’t take a ship anymore either.” She turned to Tabitha. “Is Sylphid capable of the flight up there?”

Tabitha nodded. Louise privately somewhat envied the other girl’s ability to convey complex emotions with minimal speech, but she didn’t want to think about what had caused her to develop them in the first place. 

She clapped her hands. “Splendid! Can...” She paused. “My-fiance’s-familiar-whose-name-i-definitely-know do that too?”

Wardes rolled her eyes. “Her _name_ is Ingrid,” he supplied irritably. “And yes, she can. We’ll just have to fly, and hope that your familiar won’t try to incinerate us all on the way there.”

_I N D I G N A T I O N_

Ramiel’s reply was laced with an almost saccharine sweet undertone of pure sass, a smart little comment at the end of its indignant hum that let everyone know that one, it wouldn’t _try_ to incinerate. It just _would_ incinerate. And two, the only one under threat of incineration was _Wardes_ if he didn’t stop running his mouth.

Louise sighed in irritation. “Jean-Jacques, I _swear_,” she groused, jumping onto Ingrid’s back. “If you don’t stop maligning my familiar, I’ll incinerate you _myself_.” She smiled at the sudden alarm on his face. “I’m sure Mother wouldn’t mind, really.”

Having a fiance could be _such_ a pain at times.

<>

The actual flight itself to Albion was... a mood, to be honest. Wardes was in a bit of a snit, constantly peeking over his shoulder and at Louise’s chest. Louise wasn’t certain which option was more irritating; the possibility that her fiance was blatantly ogling her like some common Zerbst, or that he’d let himself be distracted by her familiar. The occasional snickers from Sylphid’s direction did not help, either.

In fact, Louise was positive that Tabitha was irritating them both on purpose. Quiet laughter from another flyer should not have been audible mid-flight unless wind magic was involved.

And her own familiar was brooding up a storm, too, and wasn’t _that_ just the perfect cherry on top of the cake.

Ramiel, of course, was still indignant as all hell just from the sheer humiliation of not being able to actually _properly_ fly, unlike many of its former siblings. Or even _jump_ for that matter. So the fact that it had to be carted around in a pocket like some sort of toy… well… suddenly incinerating the ugly weirdo flying alongside them seemed quite like the perfect idea for some stress relief. Shame that the angle was all wrong for it to do so easily.

Louise thunked her head into her fiance’s back. “How much longer, Jean-Jacques?”

A long-suffering sigh told her that Wardes was as fed up with the journey as she was. “Hopefully not that much longer.”

Louise groaned. “I wish something would just _happen._ I can’t take this mindless boredom much longer...”

The Universe, the Laws of Murphy, the Ancient Chinese Curses, they heard, and they obeyed with glee. Out of a thick grey cloud sailed an airship, black flag proudly displayed on its mast. 

Louise smacked her forehead with an audible _smack._ “Founder, what did I ever do to you?”

“It’s a Gallian sloop,” noted Wardes. “Most likely returning from Albion. It’s pure coincidence we ran into them, I think.”

Louise groaned. “Pirates. It _had_ to be pirates. Any chance they haven’t noticed us?”

_ **“RIDERS!”** _

“Zero,” noted Tabitha’s voice in her ear. Louise _twitched._

“Right,” she growled, whipping out her wand, “They’re getting a thunderstorm on their backs.”

“Louise, wai--”

_ **“NO SUDDEN MO--”** _

With a shriek that was as full of relief at finally being able to do something as it was full of the fury of god, Ramiel unfurled from within Louise’s shirt in a burst of shredded cloth, taking on a spiked, rotating, and ominously glowing configuration that none-too-subtly thwacked Wardes in the head a few times as it lined up a shot.

Unfortunately for Ramiel, and somewhat fortunately for the poor pirates, Louise’s sudden yelp of surprise and subsequent flinch away from Ramiel’s sudden burst of movement jostled the angel around a slight bit and threw the sudden beam of hellfire off course, merely striking (and obliterating) the prow of the ship instead of destroying the whole thing outright.

The same could not be said about Louise’s shirt, which was now just barely hanging on by a few loose threads and completely bared her entire chest to the world.

The resulting shriek of fury proceeded to deafen poor Wardes even further.

_ ** “RAMIEL!!!!” ** _

Ramiel, wisely, decided to shrink down contritely so as not to risk Louise’s fury further.

Wardes, unwisely, attempted to calm his fiancee down with compliments. “You look very lovely, my dear Louise.”

All that accomplished was giving Louise an outlet for her mortified rage. 

“Jean-Jacques, do NOT tell me you were just ogling me like a common Zerbst!”

<>

Tabitha paid no mind to the arguing pair. Well, perhaps a little mind. Well, she certainly wouldn’t mind paying Louise more mind. A faint blush on her cheeks, she forcefully turned her attention on the wounded pirate ship, letting Sylphid hover a reasonable distance away from it.

“Surrender,” she declared, letting the wind carry her voice to the probable pirates. One thing she did know was that if you had superior firepower on your side, it was a very effective deterrent towards anyone attempting something.

With no small amount of satisfaction, she watched the ship gingerly hoist a white flag.


	10. Chapter 10

Louise was eyeing Tabitha oddly. “Exactly how did you get an entire pirate ship to surrender by yourself, again?”

The blue-haired mage smirked. “You.”

Louise furrowed her brow. “Me?”

“Superior firepower,” Tabitha clarified, smirk still firmly in place. And was that a blush? Louise shook her head, looking over the surrendered pirates. Huh, they looked surprisingly un-shabby for pirates...

Louise placed her hands on her hips, looked down, reconsidered, and crossed them across her bare chest instead. “Okay. I have two requests from you lot. One, I want to see your captain. Two, I want a Founderforsaken _shirt._” She narrowed her eyes. “And by that I mean _GET ME A FUCKING SHIRT!_”

A man fled into the bowels of the ship almost immediately.

Ramiel giggled at her side, spinning about and letting out a self satisfied hum at the fact that the sheer terror instilled in these puny humans by her relatively light attack caused them to bow to Louise’s will so easily. It idly shifted forms, going from octahedral to a more cuboid shape, then into a dizzying array of spikes and spines, rhomboids coalescing and dissolving until it settled into the shape of a regular dodecahedron, then slid back into its original octahedron shape.

“Don’t think you’ve gotten away with destroying my shirt _in the first place,_” Louise snarled at her hopefully-unperverted familiar. “As soon as I figure out what to punish you with, _I fucking will._ Got that?”

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

Ramiel quieted down, suitably cowed by Louise’s hellish rage. It continued to spin, quietly though, as if scanning the ship just in case someone tried something stupid.

The man who had fled earlier returned, reverently holding out a puffy, white, and notable _male_ shirt. Louise wrinkled her nose. 

“Oh fine,” she sighed, donning it while glaring at everyone. “But if anyone makes a classy remark, I will _rain down the fiery wrath of the Founder to every single one of you!_ Got that?”

So focused was she on sniffing out potential Zerbstisms that she completely missed Tabitha’s disappointed sigh.

Ramiel, however, did not, and did the verbal equivalent of a sneaky wink at Tabitha in response. Which, really, just ended up being a quiet giggle and a small flash of light off of one of its exterior surfaces. The girl simply looked at the angel oddly.

Moments later, the tense situation was broken and turned thoroughly awkward by the somewhat pompously dramatic arrival of the ship’s captain, a blonde man wearing an outfit that seemed more like a pirate _costume_ than an actual pirate’s _outfit._ He kicked open the door to his quarters, wand at the ready and then immediately faltering when he saw Ramiel, who had immediately shifted into a cannon-like configuration the moment he began to make his entrance and was now glowing ominously as if just _daring_ him to do something stupid.

Louise was not impressed. “_You’re_ the leader of this merry band of ragtag incompetents? No wonder you surrendered this easily. What’s your name, ‘pirate’?”

The man faltered even more. “I... must confess to a deception, young noble. I am not a pirate, nor, to be quite fair, is my crew.”

The state of unimpressedness had yet to desert Louise. “Sounds like a scoundrel denying to be a scoundrel. Out of sheer curiousity, who is it that you _claim_ to be?”

The man twisted something on his finger, making a ring fade into sight. “I do not claim, fair lady. I _am_ Wales, the Crown Prince of Albion.”

There was a pause. Then Louise slowly turned her head to stare at Tabitha. “I _refuse_ to believe that this is that easy.”

“Improbable,” the other girl replied, “Yet possible.”

Her sigh almost a growl, Louise crossed her arms. “Prove it.”

Probably not!Prince Wales raised his hands in a placating gesture. “My ring, the Ring of Andvari. It is the Royal Wind Ring of Albion. See it glow faintly? It means another Royal Ring must be nearby. Perhaps one given to an emissary...?”

Almost reflexively, Louise glanced down at her hand, where the Water Ring sat on her finger. Indeed, it glowed with a faint light. Sighing, she stretched her hand out. “Put it next to the one I wear. No tricks.”

Maybe!Prince Wales stretched his own hand out, the ring on his hand reacting with the one on Louise’s. Both glowed a lot brighter.

Louise sighed in aggravation. “Oh fine. You are the one I was sent to look for. Now...”

Her voice took on a menacing tone. “What in the Founder’s name were you _thinking,_ running around as a pirate? You could be killed! Hell, you nearly _were_ killed! By _me!_ The fact that you’re still walking around was a _fluke! **What was going through your mind?!”**_

Ramiel, not entirely giving a shit but still realizing the stupidity of what Wales had done, hummed ominously in agreement, still charged up and ready to fire in case _anyone_ got any ideas, or if some _other_ idiots came around while everyone was just standing around awkwardly watching a tiny teenage girl lambast a man who happened to be taller, older, and of higher station than her.

Wales gulped. “It seemed like a good disguise at a time. The Reconquista is busy with their war on us royals. Who’d attack a random pirate ship?”

Louise answered with incoherent sounds of rage. Tabitha, slightly behind her but in full view of Wales, pointed at Louise. A tiny smirk was on her face. 

Then she patted Louise on the shoulder. “Mission,” she reminded, once again. The amount of tangents her travelling companions could get up to... oh well. Still less than Kirche.

The blue-haired mage’s interruption had done wonders to calm Louise’s temper to the point she could form words again.

“Right! The mission. From the princess. The mission from the princess. That mission.” Louise snapped her fingers and pointed at Wales. “You have a letter from her majesty Princess Henrietta! She’d like it back, please, so that there’s no risk of, well… you know what’s in the letter and how badly it could turn out for Tristain if it were to fall into the wrong hands.”

The man blushed slightly and took a letter from his coat. _Wait, seriously? Why was it there?_ “I keep it above my heart,” he said. _Oh._ “But I can understand why she might want it back. It was foolish of me to keep it in the first place... here.” 

As he held out the letter, Wardes walked forward. “Let me see that,” he said. “It might not be the real thing.” And before Wales could voice a protest, he snatched the letter. Walking back, he surreptitiously shot a tiny bolt of lightning from his wand.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the bolt of lightning arced across the air, made a subtle _snap-hiss…_ and struck Ramiel right in its crystalline rear, which, with Ramiel still holding a charge, resulted in an unfortunately large beam of hellfire blasting out of it with an almighty shriek of surprise.

Even more unfortunate was the fact that both Wales and the entire rear end of the ship were in the path of the destructive blast.

Seizing the opportunity to flee in the confusion, Wardes immediately ran and jumped over the side of the listing ship, his familiar bounding after him in an instant and carrying him off with a loud, victorious cackle.

Unfortunately for Wardes, Ramiel was vengeful and quick-witted and, after a momentary hum of rage that sounded more like an almighty growl, screamed again as it grew to the size of an elephant, spiking out in dozens of crystalline spires as it unleashed yet another beam to smite Wardes out of the sky and wipe him from existence like a particularly unpleasant stain on an otherwise pristine window.

Louise was left staring at the aftermath. It warranted a special kind of reaction, of that her subconscious was sure of. And as such...

“What the _fuck_ just happened?”


	11. Chapter 11

As the ship continued its descent, Louise couldn’t unfortunately dwell on that question for long. Thankfully, they had covered a large enough distance that the forests of Albion were visible through the clouds.

Not so thankfully, the ship, or what was left of it, was now damaged enough that steering it into anything resembling a controlled landing was but a faint dream by now.

Louise’s eye was faintly twitching even as she held on for dear life. “What the _fuck_ do we do _now?”_

“Feather fall,” supplied Tabitha, holding onto Louise in all the right places. That just earned her an incredulous glare.

“And how the _fuck_ do you propose we do _that?!_”

That earned her a flat look. “Are you a mage or not?”

Louise froze for a moment. “Yes. Right. Magic.” She gripped her wand tightly. “Don’t fail me now...!”

With utmost desperation in her every movement, Louise waved her wand and tried very, very hard to properly cast the feather fall spell. Unfortunately, this did not work as intended. Fortunately, the massive jets of fire erupting from around the ship held stable by the sudden appearance of multiple rune circles did more or less a good enough job at making sure the crash was merely “uncomfortably bad” as opposed to “lethally catastrophic”.

“Well done,” was Tabitha’s comment. Louise wasn’t sure if the other girl was being sarcastic, or if it was just her imagination. It was hard to tell, sometimes.

Louise coughed, clambering onto the slightly smoldering forest floor on unsteady legs. “W-where are we?”

She looked around. The answer seemed to be “in the woods somewhere”. She sighed. “Aside from lost, that is.”

“Lost.” Tabitha deadpanned, the tiniest of smirks on her face.

Ramiel, not at all affected by the crash, just let out a disapproving whine and lightly bapped Tabitha upside the head with an extended crystal to show its disapproval at her joke.

“I noticed,” Louise snarked. “Any other observations, Princess Obvious?”

“Sylphid,” noted said mage, rubbing her head. Said dragon also clambered from the wreckage, favoring a wing. Louise facepalmed. “_Please_ tell me that whatever the fuck happened that my familiar was overly involved in, didn’t manage to injure yours to the point that we are essentially stranded on Albion?”

Ramiel, in the background, protested Louise’s remark and was summarily ignored.

“Apologies,” offered Tabitha.

Louise let out another slightly growly sigh. “It’s not your fault, it’s-” She hissed. _“Wardes.”_ Louise began pacing. “He set Ramiel off, he knew exactly what he was doing - I’m sorry for doubting you, Tabitha - and... and...”

Louise stopped pacing abruptly, sitting down on the forest floor. “...and he’s dead. And so is Wales. And so is like, all of his crew. So many people have died...”

She put her face in her hands. “At least the letter is destroyed. Literally a single upside in a world of death and destruction.”

Arms encircled her. “Dummy,” said Tabitha’s soft voice. “Not your fault. Unforeseeable circumstances.”

Ramiel chirped an agreement, floating over and shrinking down so it could fit its cuboid shape into Louise’s lap and act like a heated, rock hard pillow for Louise.

Louise sniffled. “But I still feel guilty about it! And you!” She mustered a glare into her lap. “You let yourself be used as an instrument of senseless murder! How could that _happen?_”

_T R I G G E R_

Ramiel made the closest equivalent it could to a verbal shrug, not really sure either- how had Wardes figured out that the closest thing it had to a weakness was being attacked whilst using its beam was a complete mystery, and one that it likely suspected was just a mix of nerves and sheer dumb luck.

Louise just sighed angrily, leaning into Tabitha. “Sheer bad luck. Yes, I can believe it. Just _fucking_ typical.”

With a quiet hum, Ramiel seemed to agree with Louise- at least until it made a warning siren noise and immediately fired off a weak laser off into the surrounding woods, singing several trees and causing something, or rather, someone to squeak frightfully as they fell out from where they had been hiding behind the cover of a once healthy and not on fire aspen tree.

At once, Louise had a wand in hand and pointed at the person. “Identify yourself!”

Tabitha stepped behind her, hand on her staff. Sylphid made a threatening noise.

The figure raised their hands in a calming manner. “I mean you no harm, weary travelers.” 

Despite the calming words, Louise only gritted her wand harder, eye twitching in a sudden burst of rage at the sight of the twin protrusions upon the other figure’s chest. 

“Bigger than Kirche,” Tabitha spoke up unhelpfully, her staff lowering as she stared in what might have been jealousy, or awe.

Louise felt an eye twitch. Again. “Can we not talk about breasts for a fucking moment?” she hissed. In related news, she’d discovered that swearing felt good, and _fuck_ Mother’s views on that. Although in retrospect that boldness may have come about being an entire country away from Mother. Oh well.

The stranger’s body language spoke only confusion. “But I was not talking about breasts?”

Ramiel just giggled, shifting back into its octahedral form after determining that the stranger was no longer a threat.

Louise sighed, lowering her wand. "You know what, we're getting nowhere. I am Louise de Valliere, and that's Tabitha. And what’s _your_ name, boob demon?" 

"But I'm not a demon," the stranger declared in bewilderment. "...my name is Tiffania," she added after Louise's expectant pause. "Tiffania Westwood, and I keep an orphanage in these woods." She smiled from under her hood. "Perhaps you would like to accompany me there? I am sure I can find something to treat your injuries from that terrible crash you had..."

Louise glanced at Tabitha. The other girl shrugged. “Convenient,” she offered.

“A little _too_ convenient,” Louise countered. “What if it’s a trap?”

“You exist,” Tabitha reminded.

Louise eyed the other girl. “So... trust, but verify?”

“Works,” was the agreement.

Louise sighed, turning to... “Tiffania, was it? It’s not that we don’t trust you, but we don’t quite trust you yet. I’m going to be casting a spell to verify your intent, if you don’t mind?”

The boob fairy raised her hands placatingly. “I don’t mind... will this hurt?”

“...Probably not,” Louise shrugged and waved her wand, incanting out some kind of intent spell that immediately surged out of control and went wild, casting out crimson rays of light that swirled out into an eldritch pattern.

The wind whipped up ominously as the crimson glow shone brighter, kicking up clouds of dust and shaking the leaves from the trees around them. Mere moments later, the entire pattern collapsed in on itself in a flash of green and a blur of motion that slammed into Tiffania, who immediately squeaked and fell over from the impact.

When the dust finally cleared, Tiffania found herself on the ground, with a heavy weight on top of her, a pair of red eyes gazing into her own, and a pair of lips locked right against hers.

“...What.”

Louise slowly turned her head to stare at Tabitha. The other girl shrugged. Louise just as slowly turned back.

The new arrival clambered off of the boob stranger, revealing himself to be male if quite pretty in the process, and examined the back of his hand.

Louise’s mind blanked. She gave Tabitha another incredulous look. “Are those...?”

“Familiar runes,” the wind mage confirmed, equally incredulous. Louise faintly felt an eye twitch.

“Right,” she noted. “I’m not sure why or how, but I’m blaming Ramiel.” She raised a challenging eyebrow at her Familiar. “Unless you have any relevant objections?”

_T A B R I S_

Ramiel immediately let out what could be considered some kind of shriek of mild excitement, floating over to the white haired male and spinning around rapidly. The single word it uttered held a wealth of meaning- the male was apparently named Tabris, and was, technically speaking, Ramiel’s brother.

“Ah, Ramiel,” Tabris turned and smiled at the spinning octahedron, lightly patting Ramiel’s surface once it stopped spinning. “My my, it certainly is interesting to see you again. I had been under the impression that you had been terminated, though it seems that you’d just been transported to another reality instead. How interesting.”

Louise and Tabitha exchanged another completely incredulous glance. Then Louise pulled herself together and addressed her Familiar.

“Damn it, Ramiel, why didn’t you tell me you had family back where... wherever I summoned you from! Have they been missing you? Haven’t _you_ been missing them?” She sighed in aggravation, before addressing her familiar’s brother. “Tabris, was it? I take it that you’re another Messenger like Ramiel. How come you two look nothing alike?”

“Hmm…” Tabris just shrugged and smiled, not even offering a modicum of an answer.

Ramiel just made a sound similar to a sigh, spinning about and answering Louise’s question instead.

_P R O G E N I T O R_

Simply put, Tabris was the soul of the original progenitor shoved into human form or… something like that, while Ramiel was a fragmentary piece of the original progenitor’s soul formed into a separate existence via millions of years of self evolution condensed into the span of fifteen years.

Louise opened her mouth.

Louise closed her mouth and thought intently.

“Je commence a croire que nous avons eu les yeux plus gros que le ventre, mon amour,” muttered Tabitha next to her.

That was enough to shake Louise out of her thoughts, as she gave the other girl an odd look. “...I beg your pardon, Tabitha?”

The girl blushed. “Bigger eyes than belly,” she whispered, looking away.

Louise looked on with a frown. “...Are you okay, Tabitha?”

“Fine,” her companion answered resolutely. She refused to look Louise in the eye. “What of Tabris?”

Louise exhaled, glaring at the genially smiling Progenitor. “That is a _fucking_ good question.”


	12. Chapter 12

It was a few hours later. Louise, Tabitha, Tiffania, and their Familiars were all bundled away into Tiffania’s orphanage. On the way there, Louise had made the unpleasant discovery of Tiffania being a half-elf, but on top of the more important revelations, that fact was left to the wayside.

As such, she found herself at a wooden table, gulping down calming herbal infusion like nobody’s business, and glaring at Ramiel and Tabris in between.

She slammed the latest mug onto the table. “So. Tabris.” The herbal mixes were a godsend, and her opinion of the Elf had raised considerably. That didn’t mean she had to like the infuriatingly cryptic enigma that was the Elf’s familiar. “What’s your _deal?_”

“I simply do as I must, no more, no less,” Tabris shrugged, smiling genially and leaning forward, propping his elbows on the table and folding his hands in front of him. “And as I am now bound as a familiar to miss Westwood here, then what I must do is to aid her as she pleases. No more, no less.”

_B U L L S H I T_

Ramiel chirped derisively from where it sat hovering over the table like an ominous chandelier, making the equivalent of an amused snort as that single word brought with it the information that Tabris just liked being a cryptic little shithead about the fact that he was an aimless bum who only did things that he liked. Like playing piano, or Shinji Ikari, whoever the fuck that was. The latter of those two things was delivered with what might as well have been a very obvious wink and a nudge, to which Tabris responded by coughing awkwardly into his hand, blushing, and looking away.

“.... Shinji was… worthy of my grace… that’s all,” Tabris murmured, carefully not meeting anyone’s gaze.

Louise coughed. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, and I’m glad Ramiel can cut through whatever bullshit you’re trying to feed me, Tabris. However.” She raised a finger. “You said what you were _doing._ You didn’t say what your _deal_ was. Yes, Ramiel is precise and concise, but I don’t expect them to be long paragraphs of actual _fucking_ meaning. No offense, Ramiel.” 

Louise pointed her finger at Tabris. “What, exactly, _are_ both of you?”

“To put it simply, in our home dimension, we are the closest approximation to what one might call alien life,” Tabris answered with a sentence that might as well have not explained anything. “Our cores are the physical manifestation of the soul, and have the ability to produce infinite energy. We are immortal, and our only weak point is our core.”

Louise was massaging her forehead. “Right. I’m guessing the infinite energy bleeding over to me through our bond is what makes my magic do ridiculously overpowered things. Good. One mystery explained.”

She sighed irritably. “The rest of your sentence explains jack shit, Tabris. Home dimension? Alien life? I have zero context to either of those concepts, do you realize that?”

“Ah. I see,” Tabris smiled a little bit in that same infuriating way and then just shrugged. “Imagine life from another planet. But from another universe as well. That is what we are.”

Louise furrowed her brow. "And I summoned you - _both_ of you, from a distance that far away? And that was _before_ I got the power boost from Ramiel?" She looked between them both with wide eyes. "Just how _fucking_ powerful am I?" 

“Apparently absurdly so,” Tabris answered with a shrug, not entirely sure himself. Ramiel made a noise of agreement, spinning around slowly and scattering light around the area.

Louise slumped onto the table. "I need another tea."

<>

Tabitha was, inwardly, panicking. She was in way over her head. Way, way over her head. Why did she have to be so curious? Why did she have to stumble across not one but _two_ Void Mages? Why did she have to fall in love with one of them? And why was the other's familiar staring at her?

"What?" she settled on asking, when that crimson gaze became too much to bear. What did he want from her? What did he _see_ in her? 

“You remind me of someone,” Tabris smiled genially, as if he hadn’t just been staring at her like some kind of creepy weirdo. “Just with blue eyes and glasses instead of red eyes and no glasses…. And I suppose you’re a bit shorter as well.”

“I see.” She did not see. Were it not for the “red eyes” descriptor, she’d think... _no_. No, this was not an avenue she wanted to explore if she could help it.

She glanced at Louise, who was bemoaning the lack of sanity around her. That one was an avenue she’d explore much more readily... no! Focus! Shut up, Mental Voice of Kirche!

Tabitha shook her head to clear it of cobwebs. She wished she had something alcoholic to drink instead of all this tea.

<>

Ramiel, meanwhile, hovered silently over the table. Its thoughts were in turmoil, but thankfully easier to sort out this time around. The source of its turmoil, of course, was none other than Tabris- or, as he’d told the humans at the table to call him, Kaworu.

On the one hand, it was nice to not be alone in the universe again after spending several long nights just firing out its longest range signal pings to try and contact some form of progenitor. On the other hand…. Why did it have to be _Tabris_?

Ramiel didn’t dislike the white haired Angel, per se, but… why not Zeruel? Or Arael? Or even Armisae- actually no, not Armisael.

Ramiel paused in its rotation and shuddered gently in disgust. To borrow a phrase from the humans, _fuck_ Armisael. Disgusting overgrown terrestrial tapeworm.

Eugh.

That said, at the very least, Tabris was well aware of the fact that Ramiel loathed his squishy, organic meat sack that housed his core and also heavily disliked the fact that he was such a cryptic bum. So that was nice. It meant that Tabris wouldn’t try to be overly friendly with it and thus wouldn’t touch it with his weird gross not-really-human organic fingers. 

Ramiel took a moment to ponder the inherent contradiction that was the fact that it really, really hated the thought of others of its kind being organic when it was, in fact, actually pretty fine with the humans of Halkeginia. Then it decided that it was probably just because it was made of inorganic structures that were more or less perfect and everything else was weird and gross and fleshy stuff surrounding an exposed core. 

Idiots. The core is the most important part and most of its organic siblings just had it hanging out for everyone to see like a giant red target.

Zeruel was okay though since Zeruel could blow up small mountains just like Ramiel. Even if Zeruel was kind of gross too, but less so since it had more metallic compounds than actual flesh making up its tissues.

And, Ramiel supposed, at least Tabris didn’t have _his_ core exposed either. Even if he was squishy and gross.

Eugh.

<>

Louise upended another mug of tea down her throat, and then stared at it for a long while. “I wish I had alcohol,” she groused, unknowingly echoing Tabitha’s thoughts from earlier. “I’m too sober for all of this.”

Sighing, she looked at the Boob Demon, no, sorry, _Tiffania,_ and asked the question she had been contemplating for a while now. 

“You don’t happen to know any good ways _off_ this floating rock, do you?”

She ignored Tabitha’s quiet facepalm behind her.


	13. Chapter 13

It was getting dark outside, and Louise was hard at work. She had commandeered the blackboard Tiffania usually used to teach her charges, and was busy drawing numerous equations and spell matrices onto it.

Tabitha was watching with interest. Tiffania was pleasantly confused.

“What are you doing, honoured Louise?” she asked finally.

“I’m trying to piece together a spell matrix,” was the absentminded reply. “I am after all the top of my class in theory, even though the practicals go wonky due to power overwhelming.” Louise underlined an equation. “There. Tabitha, what do you think?”

“Interesting,” was the stoic girl’s stoic reply. “Would that work?”

Louise exhaled in aggravation. “The theory is sound. The practical... well. You know what they’re like.”

Tiffania was chewing on her lip. “What are you trying to accomplish? It feels like your magic knows what an end result should be, and accomplishes it in an unorthodox way. From what I have seen. That is.” She was fidgeting slightly.

Louise looked at the elf. Then at the board. Then back at the elf. Then growled. “Fuck. That’s exactly what it does, doesn’t it?” She started swiping the blackboard aggressively. “I might as well just point my wand and hope for a _fucking_ miracle, because that’s all this thing is good for, isn’t it?”

“Thought process helps,” noted Tabitha, a thoughtful look on her face.

Louise stared at her for a long moment. Then, with a strangled cry, she started rescribbling the equations she had just swiped off. Tabitha palmed her face.

_Q U E R Y_

Ramiel floated over and made a questioning noise, shuddering violently due to the fact that Tabris was perched upon its currently cuboid surface and was _refusing to get off of it gross gross gross_. Still, it had enough presence of mind to wonder what Louise was doing, and if it needed to help her with higher order math equations.

Louise rubbed her eyes. "I'm trying to figure out how to get us off this floating rock - no offense, Tiffania, it’s a lovely place - and therefore breaking down a Levitation enchantment. I'm hoping that -" she gestured at a particular set of equations - "since Sylphid is out of commission and you can't fly, I'll be able to get that shipwreck into a semi-usable condition to get us back to the Academy." She laughed bitterly. "Theoretically, the arithmancy is sound. Practically, my magic is probably going to refract through your dimensions and we'll end up with something completely unrecognisable." 

She underlined another equation. "So unless you have a solution you can pull out of your metaphorical ass, we're stuck here for the time being." Louise paused. "Unless we go steal another ship." 

_D E S T R U C T I O N_

Ramiel answered rather bluntly, shifting its surfaces around and dumping Tabris on his ass as it all but begged for the chance to blow shit up. Which, honestly, wasn’t surprising in the least to Louise. It paused for a moment, then considered what Louise had actually just said.

_F L I G H T_

With an almost exasperated sounding tone, Ramiel reminded everyone that, yes, it could in fact fly, but not while it was so small. If it grew to its full form, then it could easily get back to the main continent.

Louise rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I... hadn't considered that. To return, in a massive superfortress that just so happens to be my Familiar, and dare I say, friend..." She smiled. "I can see that happening. Of course, it would completely negate any form of stealth, but somehow I doubt we'd need it all that much anymore... I should be proud of you, don't I?" 

Tabitha raised her hand. "What of logistics?" 

Louise gave her a look. "What do you mean?" 

The wind mage rolled her eyes. "Carrying us. How?" 

Louise paused. "Oh. Right. Er." She gave a helpless look at her Familiar. "How _would_ you carry us all, Ramiel?" 

Ramiel just made a hum of annoyance and shifted shapes once more, flattening out before all but scooping Louise up onto its top surface, doing the same with Tabitha and Sylphid before growing and growing and _growing_ to gargantuan size, to the point that it became a nearly mountain sized cube with a tiny divot at the top large enough to hold a house, where upon the three of them sat.

Louise blinked. "Right. That works." She looked around. "Tabitha, could you direct my voice down there? I want to thank Tiffania for her hospitality." 

The other girl smiled slightly and scooted closer to Louise, whispering an incantation while holding her staff tight in one hand. With the other, she hugged Louise. 

Louise felt a telltale tingle of magic around her mouth and ears, and flashed Tabitha a smile. Then she leaned forward and called out, "Thank you for letting us use your house, Tiffania! Don't get too perverted with your familiar! We'll try to visit sometime!" 

She heard an answering call of thanks and grinned, nodding at Tabitha that she could drop the spell now. "Okay then, my magnificent Familiar! Do your _thing_!" 

With a shriek of what could only be assumed to be joy, Ramiel immediately took off over the horizon, AT-Field shimmering as it propelled itself off into the sky and over the edge of Albion, shining in the sun and reveling in the fact that it was _big_ again. As it crossed the sky and made its way back to Tristain, Ramiel’s geometry changed slightly, keeping the platform for its passengers while shifting the rest of it to a more aerodynamic shape to conserve energy.

Louise hugged Tabitha to her, ignoring the other girl's tiny squeak, and whooped with glee as the wind blew in her hair.

<>

Tabitha, if she was being honest, could hardly recall a situation where she had been happier. Sure, the surface was hard, and sure, the wind was cold, and sure, she was toeing a line (or perhaps even playing jumprope with the line as far as Joseph would have been concerned), but all the same, as the girl she was definitely falling in love with hugged her close, she simply could not keep a goofy little smile from blooming onto her face.

Maybe things could just... work out after all?

<>

Tiffania looked away towards the rapidly departing blue diamond. She glanced at Kaworu, at her new _Familiar_. "Do you think they're going to be okay?" she asked. , a small chill going down her spine at the strange expression on his face.

Kaworu just hummed, his hand resting on his chin as he watched them leave.

“... They should enjoy their peaceful lives while it lasts.”


	14. Interludes

_There’s been a change of plans,_ Siesta thought. The Count was going off for an entire week. An entire week, only after which people would start to miss him. 

An entire week for her to be able to fulfill her improved Plan.

She knew the Count would want to... see... her before he left. But she wouldn’t let him do anything anymore. No more. No more Count.

She finished the pot of tea, humming in contentment. “No sugar,” she sang softly. “Your tea will be a little bitter, Comte de Mott. You should buy some more sugar, Comte de Mott...”

Siesta walked down the corridor, carrying the tray with the tea, smiling serenely. “You should watch who you take, Comte de Mott...”

<>

“There’s been a change of plans,” Sheffield said. “Wales is missing, and Wardes has never reported back. Should I assume he either got himself killed, or that he has betrayed us?”

Joseph waved his hand irritably. “I don’t care about him. What’s the status of the Staff I asked you to recover?”

Sheffield sighed. “The _Lance of Longinus,_ Sir, has been destroyed. I have a team subtly scouring the area of fragments, but so far they have had no luck. More worrying is the fact that our main agent is also AWOL, Sir.”

The blue-haired man stared out of the window. “And who allowed Charlotte off her leash, Sheffield?”

The also blue-haired woman crossed her arms. “Perhaps she decided that she was not your doll. Sir.”

Joseph tsked. “Do remind her whose custody her mother is in, would you? _I_ am still in charge of her destiny. Don’t let her forget that.”

Sheffield inclined her head, gazing at the man who gave her her name. “As you say, Commander.”

<>

“We might have to have a change of plans,” Tiffania said idly, stirring a large pot of soup with one hand, and holding a cookbook with the other. “I have a feeling Albion might not be the safest place to be, very soon.”

“The question is, how do we move some twenty children off of a floating island?” Kaworu murmured, for once deciding not to be a cryptic weirdo out of genuine concern for the fact that if they left they’d have to figure out how to keep twenty-odd children alive despite the literal civil war brewing in the background.

Tiffania sighed. “Miss Valliere suggested stealing a ship, earlier. But that was with the power of her Familiar - and, again, not counting my charges.” She let go of the ladle and sprinkled some salt into the broth. 

“You mentioned having a friend once, off working on the mainland- perhaps she could help?” Kaworu suggested, then idly stood up and began cutting up an onion just to keep his hands busy. 

“Not friend,” Tiffania shook her head. “Half-sister.” She looked out of the window. “She usually sends me carrier owls. Her last one is late... I hope anything hasn’t happened to her...”

“I think quite a lot has happened to her recently,” Kaworu muttered, staring off into the distance oddly before suddenly looking back down at the cutting board. “But I believe she’s safe. As much as can be, at least.”

Tiffania sighed worriedly. “I really hope everything will work out...” she whispered.

<>

_Dear Diary,_

_There’s been a change of plans._

Kirche chewed on her quill. She was rather put out at the situation.

_Tabby ditched me and ran off with Louise. I’m..._

_Well, I’m actually kind of proud of her. She has certainly learned from the best, when it comes to seduction. But did she really have to go seduce my darling Louise before me? That’s unfair!_

She paused. Wait. Did she want to seduce Louise too? Kirche sucked on her quill some more.

_Did..._

_Am I..._

_...do I want to seduce Louise myself? It is certainly poetic, another Zerbst seducing another Valliere. But is rivalry all I want from that? Could I want more from it?_

_...How would seducing her even work?_

Kirche scratched her chin. 

_The logistics... Oh, they invoke such passion within my thoughts! But would she reciprocate? No, I won’t let that stop me! I will invoke the passion I know is buried deep within the little Louise! And I will seduce her and Tabby both if need be!_

Satisfied, Kirche closed her diary. “And now all I need to do is wait for them to return to me,” she told the empty room.

<>

“So help me, Duke, there better be a change of plans!”

Karin Desiree, Duchess de la Valliere, glared at her husband. Said husband, well used to her wife, merely chuckled good-naturedly. 

“Come now, my darling. Louise is a big girl, she can handle it; from what Osmond has told me, she is almost as powerful at you by now, my dear.”

“Power,” growled Karin, “is _nothing_ without _control._ If Louise won’t be able to control herself, then _I am not losing a daughter!_”

Duke sighed. “You’re making a hurricane out of a breeze, Karin. She will be able to handle those duties perfectly well.”

“You don’t _know_ that!”

Duke nodded. “No, I don’t know. But I have faith in her. Don’t you?”

Karin grked. “T-that’s not the point!”

Duke stepped forward and hugged his wife. “You worry too much, my dear Karin. Louise is strong. She is perfectly worthy of becoming a Chevalier.” He smiled. “I am so very proud of her.”

Karin hugged him back. “So am I. B-but I’m afraid. It’s natural, right? _Right?_”

Duke smiled. “Of course. But aren’t you proud, nonetheless?”

Karin sighed. “I am. Of course I am! But I swear to you, Duke -” she poked him on the chest - “When she comes home, I _will_ test her myself!”

<>

"There will have to be a change of plans."

Vittorio Serevare glanced at his Familiar. The already enigmatic man he’d summoned years ago was staring out of the window in consternation. Vittorio tilted his head. “And which plans should we change, my Vindalfr?”

The man glanced at his master. “My spies have located Lifrasir, Mr. Serevare. Unfortunately, we will not be able to use it.”

Vittorio, admittedly, was rather irked over his familiar’s casual use of his last name, but realistically, there wasn’t much he could do about it. It was simply how the man was. So all he did was raise an eyebrow - and refuse to call the man by _his_ name in return. “And why will we not be able to use the Lifrasir, my Vindalfr?”

His Familiar looked out of the window again. “Because the Fifth Angel has been summoned. Our previous plan needs some serious revision.” He stalked to his desk and seated himself at it. Vittorio followed his movement in slight amusement. His familiar was certainly a dramatic man.

“And why does the presence of the Angel of Thunder facilitate a revision of plans, my Vindalfr?”

The man exhaled. “Because, inevitably, it will be more interested in destroying the essential components than helping us, and especially so if under duress. No. We must instead find the Raiment.”

The Vindalfr tented his fingers as he glared at nothing in particular. “I promised her to not look for her. It seems that I would have to break my promise.”

Gendo Ikari adjusted his glasses. “We _have_ to find Unit-01.”


	15. Chapter 15

With an ungodly shriek that echoed through the air, Ramiel descended upon the castle courtyard like a chunk of falling sky, its shining surface reflecting and refracting the light in dazzling glimmers. It shifted as it landed, elaborate spikes and spires spinning out of nonexistence to make its landing just that more impressive. As it neared the ground, it sang like an angelic chorus, humming out a formless tune as it began to spin and shrink, its spires collapsing in on themselves and its spikes reverting back into smooth, unbroken planes. When the dust of its passing cleared, it was at its normal, two meter height once more, floating serenely behind a very rumpled looking Louise, a slightly confused dragon, and a somewhat windswept Tabitha.

Louise couldn’t help herself, she jumped up and whooped. “We did it! The letter is out of enemy hands forever, and Albion wasn’t shot out of the sky either!”

She paused. “And those are _very_ low bars, aren’t they. Founder, we were almost very terrible.”

Tabitha, once again suddenly looking completely unruffled, looked contemplative. “Conflict,” she noted. “Royalists were losing.”

“...and Wales is still dead,” finished Louise. “I... I think they’ve lost. Fuck.”

“Not blaming you,” Tabitha noted. 

“We could have _helped,_” insisted Louise. “We could’ve asked Ramiel to incinerate the invading forces! I just didn’t _think_ of it!”

Tabitha glanced at Ramiel. “Odds of sinking Albion?”

_Y E S_

Ramiel almost made a deadpan sound, singing quietly as it more or less mentioned that a full power beam would almost certainly punch all the way through the continent if aimed at the ground, though it did concede that, no, it wouldn’t need even a fraction of a full powered beam to annihilate an army of weak little human mages, especially at its full size.

Louise sighed. “Yes, all right, I get the message. I just wish I could have _done_ something...”

“Kirche,” Tabitha said.

Louise stared at the other girl. “No, I don’t want to do Kirche. Have you taken leave of your senses?”

“May not have choice,” was the dry reply.

Unfortunately, Louise could no longer reply, as she was suddenly buried face-first into a Zerbst bosom. Thus, all she actually said was “mrffle”.

“Kirche,” Tabitha said warningly. 

Before the redheaded boob demon could offer any sort of coherent response, Ramiel immediately reacted to the “attack” upon its master in its customary overkill manner, unfolding into a swirling mass of spikes and blasting Kirche’s already faintly sunburned body with a burst of heat and light that left said boob demon toasty, stinging all over, yelping like a small dog, and unfortunately for Louise, still firmly on top of the smaller girl- in fact, due to Kirche’s pained wiggling, Louise’s face got smushed even _further_ into Kirche’s bosom to the point where suffocation became a very real and very near problem.

Louise, flailing, did the only thing she could think of - she pointed her wand downward and forced an explosion.

A familiar result happened - it lightly shredded her clothing and created a layer of soot - but it enforced the results on the Zerbst. Results to the point that Louise fled, red-faced, to the direction of the dormitories, Tabitha began sniggering, and Kirche just stood there, being rather confused.

She looked down. She felt the breeze. Then she put her hands on her cheeks and _squeed._ “Uwaaah! My little Valliere is so grown-up in the means of seduction!”

Tabitha narrowed her eyes and left for the dormitories. “Dibs,” she murmured as she passed the practically naked girl. “Clothe yourself, Kirche.” She headed off to find Louise.

<>

From where she’d hidden herself up in Louise’s room upon receiving word of explosions and giant beams of crimson light, Henrietta almost _glared_ down at the courtyard, clenching her fist tight in the robes of her well worn disguise. At her side, Agnes rolled her eyes at Henrietta’s childish display of (barely disguised) jealousy, sighing when Henrietta went from glaring down at Kirche’s affections to blatantly staring at the damage to Louise’s outfit, mild though it was, with a light blush on her face.

"If you're done ogling, your Highness?" drawled Agnes. She was rewarded with another quick blush from her charge, before the Princess attempted to compose herself. 

The faint blush still present on that pretty face told her it wasn't very successful. 

Agnes sighed again. “She’s coming here anyway, your highness. You’ll have plenty more opportunities to ogle, and from what I’ve heard of her, she would not be too adverse to such coming from you.” She smirked. “Now if she’s willing to _share..._”

Henrietta _eeped._ “_Agnes!_ Don’t kid around like that!”

Agnes raised an eyebrow. “Who’s kidding?”

Henrietta was saved from one awkward situation and thrust straight into another as Louise slammed the door open, stormed in, ripped off the male shirt she had been wearing - wait, where did she get _that!?_ and started rummaging in her wardrobe. She hadn’t noticed her visitors yet.

_I N T R U D E R S_

Ramiel almost deadpanned as it followed Louise into the room a few moments later, shifting into a cross shape as it highlighted both Agnes and Henrietta with a flash of crimson light, fully aware of who Henrietta was but still training a warning laser on Agnes and leaving a crimson dot upon her forehead in a silent threat.

Louise sighed in clear aggravation. She turned around. Henrietta saw gears moving in her head for a brief moment, before she became transfixed at the other girl’s... attributes. Agnes rolled her eyes, lightly glaring at the spinning hovering diamond behind Henrietta’s current... interest.

“Touch my Princess and I swear I will find a way for you to regret it most severely,” she remarked.

_U N L I K E LY_

Ramiel responded, not at all impressed by Agnes’ declaration, though it did at least respect the sheer amount of testicular fortitude it took to deliver a death threat to a mountain destroying sentient weapon of extraordinarily high amounts of mass destruction.

Tabitha walked in.

Tabitha took one look and promptly closed the door. “Careless,” she noted.

That was enough to startle a mighty _eep_ out of Louise, and she promptly ran into her wardrobe and shut the door behind her. Tabitha rolled her eyes.

Agnes looked at the new girl. “Does she do this often?”

Tabitha shrugged. "Apparently." 

That was followed by Louise slamming the closet door open, now properly dressed, and declaring an indignant "Lies and slander!" at Tabitha. Said girl simply snorted. 

Ramiel just giggled and collapsed back down to its normal state, no longer threatening death towards Agnes and Henrietta. It floated over to the bed, rather uncaring of the current mood, and settled itself down in cuboid form so it could bask in the sun streaming through the window.

Henrietta spoke up then. "Louise Françoise, how did it go? Did you manage to erase my folly?" 

Louise bit her lip. "Yes, yes I did. Don't ask for any details. For the love of Brimir please don't ask for details." 

She paused. "On a completely unrelated note, Jean-Jacques is dead. Very sad. Let’s move on.”

Tabitha snickered behind her. Louise ignored it. “I have returned safe, sound, and with a grandiose entrance. Mission accomplished.”

Agnes raised an eyebrow. Henrietta latched onto Louise, incidentally inducing a luminous blush. “Oh, that’s wonderful, Louise Francoise! Now we must wait until my Prince kicks those traitorous ne’er-do-wells to kingdom come, and then I become Queen, and I get to legalize polygamy again so I can have both the Germanian Emperor _and_ my Prince, and-”

Louise cleared her throat in a somewhat angry manner. “Princess! I almost forgot to mention - sadly, Prince Wales is also dead. Thoroughly so. It was very sad.” She hugged suddenly shocked princess. “But worry not, your Highness - I shall comfort you in these sad times, as is my duty to you as your vassal and a Valliere!”

Tabitha and Agnes performed synchronized facepalms over Louise’s idea of subtlety.


	16. Chapter 16

They were arranged all over the room. Louise was sitting on the bed, lightly stroking Henrietta's back. Tabitha and Ramiel were by the window, the former watching Louise, and the latter reflecting sunlight. Agnes stood by the door. 

"H-how did it happen?" the Princess hiccoughed. "W-was he in pain? D-did he mention me at all?" 

Louise looked at Tabitha for a split second. _Play along,_ she mouthed. "It happened so suddenly," she said out loud. "One moment, the Prince was handing me the letter, the next moment the windstones exploded. That traitorous dog _Wardes,_" she spat, "grabbed it and jumped overboard." Louise took a breath. "I think he thought my familiar wouldn't be able to attack him while small, and severely underestimated the awesomeness of Ramiel." 

_T R A I T O R_

Ramiel made a noise of disdainful agreement, seeming like it was very much not at all fond of how easy Wardes was to absolutely murder, especially since he made for such a pathetic target- a large body moving slower than the speed of sound? Absolutely trivial. Taking the opportunity to get in another shot, Ramiel made another sound, calling Wardes pathetic and disgraceful in every single way, even his death was just pathetic.

"Yes, thank you for the input, Ramiel," Louise said. "At any rate, he is dead,and so is the Prince - you don't have to worry, your Highness, he died too quickly to notice, much less feel pain." 

Henrietta wiped her eyes. "B-but he is still dead, Louise Françoise! Where would I find comfort now, when the man I loved is dead?" 

"Dead and gone," Louise sang softly, "Rest in peace - may flights of angels guide him to his rest." She encircled her arms around Henrietta. "Let me hold and help to heal you - everyday a little death..." 

From across the room, Tabitha and Agnes locked eyes and exchanged a Look of exasperation. Ramiel just spun quietly and glittered in the sun, not at all invested in the current happenings beyond just the quiet understanding that its master was probably trying to seduce the princess. Or something.

Agnes looked at the pair on the bed, shook her head in exasperation, and gestured at Tabitha. She then pointed at the door. The girl nodded. 

The pair snuck out of the door and closed it as quietly as they could. Tabitha even applied some wind magic to thoroughly silence the room. And then both of them collapsed into helpless giggles. 

"So help me," Agnes gasped, "I can see exactly what she's doing, but I can't help to call it anything but _adorable_. 

"Subtle as sledgehammer," Tabitha agreed. 

Agnes gave her a fond look. "I think I like you, girl. Anyway. How much of what she fed her Highness was actually true? I detected some bullshit in there." 

Tabitha pondered for a moment. "Most. No explosion. Unfortunate misfire. Traitor still traitor." 

Agnes nodded. "That's more like it. Who misfired? I heard little Louise had problems with that." 

"Familiar," Tabitha elaborated. "Unexpected weakness. Sheer bad luck."

Agnes rolled her eyes. "Figures."

<>

“Oh _Founder_ what am I _doing_,” Louise whispered as she lightly stroked the sleeping Princess’ back. “I’m...” She took a shuddering breath. “I’m manipulating the Princess. I’m taking advantage of her grief just to satisfy that _stupid_ ancient crush of mine...”

Louise looked out of the window, past her shimmering familiar, and reflected. “I’m... more callous,” she whispered. “I act less and less like myself and more and more like...” Her gaze slid over to Ramiel. “...my Familiar.”

She rose, carefully extracting herself as to not wake Henrietta, and walked over to her Familiar. “Your power bleeds over to me,” she whispered. “Does your... personality, as well? Does it happen the other way round, too?”

_Y E S_

Ramiel’s answer was as curt as it was terrified, the sudden realization that it _was_ in fact acting more and more like an actual human hitting almost as hard as one of its own beams. It seemed a bit less concerned than Louise though, after a moment of thought, having rationalized it away as only being a good thing since it now had free will and an actual personality rather than just being a tool of its progenitor’s will.

Louise raised a hand and lightly stroked one of Ramiel’s facets. “We’re... changing,” she said. “Changing in dangerous and unexpected ways... Can I at least hope, that we have each other? Even though we may not recognize ourselves in the end?”

_E T E R N I T Y_

Ramiel pulsed gently under Louise’s touch, facets spinning gently as it unfurled and exposed its core to her. Together forever, until the day they died, it almost said, core pulsing with crimson light as the familiar runes spun around it.

The girl smiled. “I’m glad, Ramiel.” She looked at the sleeping royalty on her bed. “I’m glad.”

<>

“_Tabby!_”

Tabitha palmed her face. That kind of enthusiastic exclamation could only come from...

“Kirche,” she deadpanned, right before she found herself smothered in the chest-pillows of her somewhat insufferable companion. Typical Kirche, really. On the one hand, she didn’t quite mind as much as she usually would. On the other, she’d really rather be hugged by Louise.

Agnes’ amused “You okay?” floated into her ears and she quietly rolled her eyes. The bodyguard and her had ended up bonding over their respective crushes having different objectives, and she had found she rather liked the occasionally grumpy guardswoman. She flashed a quick thumbs-up and grasped her staff.

The next thing Kirche knew, she was floating right under the ceiling, and Tabitha was lightly glaring at her. “Excessive greeting,” the wind mage groused.

Kirche pouted. “Awwww, c’mon Tabby! I’d think I’ve more than enough earned a hug after you ran off to seduce Louise _without me!_”

“Not the point,” Tabitha said. 

Kirche tilted her head. “Wait, you didn’t deny that...”

“Why are you here?” Tabitha demanded. 

Kirche smiled widely. “Why, I’m here to seduce Louise, of course! Granted, I haven’t figured out the logistics yet, but I can feel the flame of passion burning bright within her! And I, Kirche, will find that flame!”

Tabitha’s grip on her staff tightened. “_Dibs,_” she hissed. 

“Girls,” came Agnes’ amused contribution. “Have you considered... _sharing?_”

Both Kirche and Tabitha looked at Agnes. Then they looked at each other. And then at the door. Tabitha slammed the butt of her staff on the floor. “First,” she growled out. Agnes snickered at them.

<>

Louise wasn’t sure what she should have been expecting upon opening the door, but Tabitha and Kirche _glaring_ at each other while the Princess’ bodyguard was looking on in amusement probably wasn’t it.

Okay, she wasn’t quite surprised at seeing Kirche there, but she didn’t think Tabitha was _that_ at odds with the boob demon. Or maybe that was over being left behind?

“Zerbst,” she sighed, “There was no way we were going to allow you to come on a secret mission and flirt with my traitorous fiance. At least Tabitha is capable of being discreet, you know.”

There was a snort from the bodyguard. “Well said, Valliere. Unfortunately, that’s not what their disagreement is about in the slightest.”

Louise frowned. “What then? And- I think I never caught your name...?”

The woman was clearly fighting laughter. “Name’s Agnes. And those two are quarrelling about who-” Agnes suddenly lost her voice, leaving her to move her lips uselessly for a moment, before she realized, and just burst into silent laughter.

Louise stared. Then she slowly turned and stared at Tabitha. “I feel like I should know what she wanted to tell me. Why did you silence her, Tabitha?”

The wind mage opened her mouth. Then she closed her mouth. Then she blushed slightly and turned her back to Louise.

Louise stared. She glanced at Agnes, who by now was slumped against the wall, wheezing hysterically. Then she glared at Kirche. “Zerbst. _Spill._”

Kirche glanced at Tabitha, who made a slashing motion across her throat. Then at Louise, who was starting to emit steam. She thought for a moment. “Changing the topic I won’t yet regale you with, my darling Louise, _wanna go to a treasure hunt?!_”

The explosion mage stared for a moment. Then she palmed her face. “Sure. Why not. Nothing better to do anyway.”


	17. Chapter 17

“Why did I agree to this,” Louise groused at her Familiar, since Tabitha and Kirche were busy on their own conversation they didn’t want her to listen in on. “Why didn’t we ride you. Why do those two keep being secretive on me.”

_L A U G H T E R_

Ramiel made a deadpan, clearly not laughing but projecting sheer amusement nonetheless as it watched Kirche and Tabitha bicker quietly with each other. It seemed quite passively amused with the entire thing, though it did wish that it was big again so it could destroy stuff while they were moving around.

Louise sighed, slumping onto the neck of the horse she was riding on. “I get you, Ramiel. I wish I could just blow something up _too._” She looked at her familiar despairingly. “This isn’t a stealth mission this time, you know. We could absolutely demand a break and just destroy the countryside for a bit. What do you think?”

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

Ramiel made an almost ecstatic hum of agreement, slipping out of Louise’s shirt and spinning around rapidly as it expressed its sheer desire to blow up stuff.

Louise grinned. “Right.” She spurred her horse onwards, catching up the horse of Kirche, and idly walking Sylphid. “Oi, Tabitha. I’m pulling over.”

The wind mage looked over. “Why?”

Louise grinned. “Ramiel and I are bored, so I deigned to be gracious enough to give you both a notice _before_ we started destroying the countryside.” She nodded genially, and steered her horse away from the pair.

Tabitha frowned. “Worrying.”

<>

Louise grinned, aiming her wand at a nearby rock formation. “Right. I think I want... melting. Magic, obey my goal!”

A sudden surge of power flowed through her, Ramiel crying out at her side as it lent her its immense power. Higher and higher it grew, building up until an ungodly beam of light fired from her wand and struck the rock formation and did precisely… nothing to it.

“... Um?” Louise tilted her head and furrowed her brow, looking down at her wand. “.... That… is not supposed to-”

Cutting her off in the middle of her sentence was the sudden appearance of a massive burst of downward pressure from the sky, a glowing, roiling wave of heat that settled over the area in a perfect circle, causing the ground to heat up and spontaneously liquefy into pools of boiling magma. The air became sweltering, and any birds that were in the area instantly dissolved into naught but ashes on the wind. So great was the heat coming off of the newly created hell pit that even Ramiel’s AT-Field struggled to keep the temperature from rising past Louise’s comfort zone.

Louise looked at the hellscape. Then at her wand. Then back at the hellscape. “Note to self: Don’t ask for melting again. Unless there’s something that really, _really_ needs it.” She looked at her Familiar. “Your turn?”

_D E A T H_

Ramiel made the equivalent of a drunken frat boy cheer, metaphorically throwing its arms into the air as it grew to full size, screaming and vibrating with glee, its geometries rotating and stretching out into the form of a massive crystal star. Its core glowed ominously for a moment before a massive beam of crimson flashed across the land, slamming into the exact center of the newly formed hell pit before winking out, the impact causing a geyser of lava to erupt out of the slowly cooling pit for a moment before falling back.

Ramiel seemed quite happy with the result, meager as it was.

And then the entire hell pit, the entire two hundred meter diameter of it, erupted into a cross shaped pillar of light that eradicated the pit entirely and left nothing behind save for a smooth, shallow bowl in the earth, scorched clean and smoothed out into a shiny bowl of obsidian glass.

Louise couldn’t help it; she giggled. “Oh, that was ama~~zing! I’m feeling much better now. Wanna get back on the road?”

She looked around. “...where are the horses?”

<>

Louise, standing tall on her imposing and magnificent Familiar, whooped with joy. After the horses had run away after her little exercise in battling boredom, Kirche had joined Tabitha on Sylphid, and she was left to ride Ramiel. Not, she suspected, that her Familiar minded. And nor did she! The view from up there was _magnificent_ \- she could see for miles!

Wait. Was that?

“Down there!” she directed her Familiar. “Take us in!”

Ramiel immediately began descending, shrinking as it closed in on the suddenly somewhat terrified forms of Professor Colbert and some girl dressed as a maid, who just happened to be walking down the road for… whatever reason. Louise didn’t know and Ramiel didn’t care. It hummed quietly once it reached the pair of erstwhile travelers, setting Louise down gently and settling beside her in its usual two meter form, with Sylphid swooping down moments later, Tabitha and Kirche in tow.

"Professor Colbert!" Louise greeted amiably. "Fancy running into you here. We seem to be heading in the same direction - would you like a ride?" 

The rather shaken teacher adjusted his glasses. "Miss Valliere! Oh, it's just you. For a moment I thought - but never mind that. What brings you to this middle of nowhere, miss Valliere?" 

Louise shrugged. "Headmaster Osmond said he preferred I destroy the countryside instead of the Academy, and Zerbst dragged us all off to a so-called "treasure hunt". Ever hear of something called a "Beast's Raiment", Professor?"

Colbert blinked. "What fascinating coincidence, miss Valliere! Young miss Siesta is helping me search for the very thing you're looking for - in fact, she knows exactly where it is!" 

Louise blinked. "What would a maid know of such things?" She looked at the servant standing slightly behind the teacher. "And if she knows of such treasure, why is she even a maid at all?" 

The young woman glared at her. "All right, young Miss, one, it was my grandfather's, and two, it's not a _treasure._ It's a _weapon._"

Louise exchanged a Look with Tabitha. The other girl looked thoughtful, but nodded. _'Possible,'_ she mouthed. 

Exhaling, Louise looked the maid in the eye. "Look, whatever your name is, I don't mean to be rude, but where would a servant's grandfather even get such a weapon in the first place?" 

The maid met her gaze evenly. "My _name_ is Siesta, young Miss. And my grandfather brought it with him, when he came to this world." 

Louise froze. She looked over at Ramiel. "Is she...?" 

_L I L I M_

Ramiel agreed, idly shifting into a starry pattern and extending its core, projecting its AT-Field until it began shimmering at the very edge, a small halo of distortion forming around Siesta’s body, weak but still noticeable, even moreso compared to the complete lack of reaction from the others gathered around.

_S O U L_

Louise stared. “A Lilim, that’s... from _your_ world...” She snapped to attention, staring at the maid. “You! ...Siesta! What was your grandfather’s _name?_”

Siesta raised an eyebrow. “His name was Shinji Ikari, young Miss.”

Louise stared. Then she deflated. “Ramiel,” she grumbled, “No killing her, or Tabris is going to be upset with you.” She sighed. “So, how is her soul different from mine, anyway?”

_L I L I M_

Ramiel repeated, changing the meaning of the word slightly to make clear the fact that, since Siesta was descended from the progenitor known as Lilith, she naturally had the ability to form an AT-Field like Ramiel, though hers was turned inward to keep her soul from leaking out, more or less. Something about metaphysical math was thrown in there as well, though nobody in the group understood it, least of all when it was brute forced into their awareness the way Ramiel communicated.

Louise rubbed her temples. “Right. Right.” She sighed. “Alien human. Sure, why not. Our life is weird enough anyway.” 

Louise turned to the mildly flabbergasted professor Colbert. “So do you want that ride or not?”


	18. Chapter 18

Tarbes, in Louise’s opinion, was a decent little fishing village. Sure, it was full of peasants, but those were needed to tend to the land, and some of them on the Valliere lands were pretty decent people, so she could be okay with them.

“Not the sort of place you’d expect to find a high-tier treasure-weapon in,” Louise remarked. 

“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” snarked Siesta. Louise rolled her eyes.

“Well, when you put it like _that..._” she drawled.

The maid frowned at her. “Don’t mock me, miss Valliere. You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

Louise paused. Then she _Looked_ at the other girl. “Excuse me, which one of us is the cataclysmic force of nature again?” She grinned. “Newsflash, little girl: It’s _me._ I am the force of nature. And my equally force of nature familiar is fiercely protective of me. So, I’ll ask only once. Was that a _threat?_”

The black-haired girl stared her in the eye. “I’m not afraid of you.”

_C H A L L E N G E_

Ramiel hummed ominously as it floated forwards, entirely amused by Siesta’s sheer grit in the face of someone who could literally wipe her from the face of the earth in an instant. It also made the reminder that, although Louise was powerful, Ramiel was the real force of nature here and no one should dare forget it.

Siesta tilted her head. "You were defeated, once." A faint smile graced her lips. "I recognize you from my grandfather's stories. He defeated you." 

The maid flashed the pair a smile. "No, that wasn't a challenge. It was a reminder. Neither of you are actually invincible." She gave Louise a respectful bow. "If you'll excuse me, I need to visit his grave." 

The maid skipped off as Kirche sidled up to a gaping Louise. "Brassy little thing, isn't she?" The boob demon threw a hand over Louise's shoulders. "She'd make a fine addition to your growing harem, my dear Louise~!" 

That snapped Louise out of it. "My _what!?_" 

Kirche blinked. "You didn't notice? You already have that princess of yours, her bodyguard has agreed to share, then there's T-" 

Whatever Kirche was going to say next, she was cut off by a tiny blue-haired missile, who immediately covered Kirche’s mouth with all the magic she had, and leaving Louise to stare on in bemusement. 

As Louise's in brain was locked into a loop of _'I have a what?'_, her mouth managed to slip out one last thought. 

"I'm sensing a running gag here."

<>

_I R R I T A T I O N_

Ramiel expressed its indignity the way it usually did- that is, by blowing up innocent chunks of countryside every now and then. It had a lot of feelings about Siesta’s sheer gall to bring up its one and only defeat, most of them going something along the lines of “how fucking dare you”. 

Hypocritical was the word of the day, it seemed, since despite her telling Ramiel that it wasn’t invincible, the little girl still seemed to act like she was, probably because of that standing order for Ramiel to _not_ vaporize her like the disgusting lilim pondscum she was.

Bitch.

Out of sheer irritation and not giving a shit about Louise’s sudden squawk of panic, Ramiel trained a guidance laser on the back of Siesta’s head and shifted into attack form, very much wishing that it could just vaporize and be done with it.

And then the bitch had the gall to turn around and _smile_ at her.

Bitch.

“I don’t think it’s going to work, Angel~” the bitch sang. She slipped behind a rock formation, her voice echoing around her. “Catch me if you can~!”

The frustratingly brassy slip of a girl led her hunter into a cave system - and then into an even larger cave system behind it. 

Ramiel continued shifting in irritation the whole time as it followed along, the cave walls distorting its normal hum into an echoing growl as its crystalline spires twisted and twirled in and out of existence, slicing into the rock like a knife through butter. It cursed its tiny form, wishing only to destroy the entire path ahead instead of having to maneuver through such tiny space- but again, its master’s word was law, and Ramiel wasn’t allowed to murder Siesta. 

She never said anything against burning off all her hair and giving her a full body sunburn, though.

The girl slipped into a final destination - an enormous pitch-black cavern. From somewhere in the back, she could be seen climbing onto something.

_A N N I H I L A T E_

Ramiel began charging up, preparing to fracture its beam through the multiple dimensions it had access to so it could give Siesta a full body wax and sunburn, only to stop short as a prickling feeling across its AT-Field became known and an ominous sense of sheer _dread_ lanced through the air.

A lesser human might have died of fright.

Fortunately, Ramiel was unable to experience sudden organ failure and was thus able to realize that the thing in the cave was big, purple, and _familiar_.

In a lesser human, the emotion Ramiel felt might have been interpreted as something wholly inappropriate to discuss in public.

Unfortunately for everyone around it, Ramiel had no concept of things that were inappropriate to discuss in public.

_A R O U S A L_

The massive being did what was unmistakably a double take. Siesta, standing on its shoulder with her eyes glowing, blinked. _"Did not expect that one,"_ she said, an odd reverb in her voice. 

Siesta and the being tilted their heads in eerie synchronization, staring down at the Angel. _"I was all set on threatening you, Angel of Thunder,"_ said the girl, the reverb still present in her voice, _"But now it seems that I need to revise my approach."_

Siesta smiled. _"I do wish I could talk to you without partially possessing my great-granddaughter, but alas, not all wishes come true."_

She gazed thoughtfully at the crystalline form of Ramiel. _"Tell me, Angel of Thunder. Would you like to be capable of assuming a human form?"_

_G R O S S_

Ramiel made the equivalent of a barfing noise and an eyeroll- after all, why would it want to be a squishy human?

It paused.

Then again, it _would_ make some things easier. Like expressing discontent in a vocal manner. And flipping people off. And punching people in the face. And maybe hugging Louise.

_M A Y B E_

Not-Siesta smiled. _"I can accomplish it with ease, with my knowledge of the Fruits of Life and Wisdom surpassing anyone I know. All you need to do, dear Angel, is step into my Core."_

The deep purple armor plates on its chest parted, revealing a glistening red Core behind them. Up on the shoulder, Not-Siesta smirked. _"Unless, of course, that is too 'gross' for you?"_

_F L E S H Y_

Ramiel made something of the equivalent of a disgusted shudder and floated upwards, expanding slightly so it could actually reach the relatively massive core of the Evangelion before it. And as its crystal flesh unfolded in rippling waves of alien geometries, its core pressed against the ruby surface of Shogoki’s core.

Crystal rippled like water as one core subsumed the other and sapphire crystal folded out of existence, just in time for Louise and co. to step into the cavern and watch Ramiel disappear.


	19. Chapter 19

“RAMIEL!” Louise cried out the moment she saw her Familiar disappear, an aching emptiness forming inside her as she almost _felt_ her bond with the Angel wither. “What have you done to my Familiar you- you… you bitch!?”

_"Your Familiar will be fine, young lady,"_ the maid said in an echoing voice. _"The Angel of Thunder is not gone. In fact, soon she will be back, greater than ever. But enough about that little thing."_

Siesta smiled, and only now did Louise realize that her eyes were glowing with an eerie light. _"Oh, how clumsy of me,"_ she tittered, _"I've forgotten to introduce myself!"_

Not-Siesta took a mocking bow. _"My name is Ikari Yui,"_ she said, _"and I am Siesta's great-grandmother. I am the Beast's Raiment."_

The colossal being Siesta was standing on the shoulder of crossed its arms and inclined its head. _"I do wish I could speak to you without relying on dear Siesta, but needs must, I suppose."_

Louise finally found her voice. "What the fuck do you mean, _you're_ the Raiment? Are you telling me that we marched all the way here for this treasure-weapon thing and it turns out to be a sentient alien behemoth that _just ate my FUCKING FAMILIAR! IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME? HUH!?_” 

Both girl and titan glared down at Louise. _"You are impatient, young lady,"_ Not-Siesta said irritably. _"But look - the procedure is done anyway."_

Something behind it moved. Armor plates behind its neck slid away, revealing something weird. 

The titan reached behind its back and removed the item, a long, thin tube with spiralling grooves etched within. It placed it onto the ground in front of Louise. 

The tube had a single hatch, with a valve in the center. Louise gripped it tightly, hissing as the metal proved to be a lot warmer than she expected, and, with monumental effort, rotated the valve clockwise. 

The hatch swung open.

<>

A human body, Ramiel decided, wasn’t actually all that gross after all. Oh sure, it was all meaty and squishy, but actually being in the body was far different from just having to experience weird oily fingerprints staining its normally pristine surface. And well, despite the humans looking like Lilim, there wasn’t the same sense of wrongness that came from knowing that the Lilim were all just part of one very big and fragmented soul rather than being part of their own thing. Actually, humans were much like Angels in that regard- separate existences capable of imposing their will on the world without falling apart despite their lack of an inverted AT-Field.

That said, being human did come with a number of drawbacks that were immediately obvious. The need to actually speak to express its thoughts and emotions. The need to actually walk around instead of flying (though Ramiel thought that perhaps it’d actually be quite easy to re-learn how to fly. Probably). And also the most dangerous thing that Yui had warned it about: The need to eat and go to the bathroom.

Fortunately for it- no, actually Yui had assigned it an actual gender upon constructing its new body. 

Fortunately for _her_, Ramiel had gotten the equivalent of a crash course in all of those things so she wouldn’t have to deal with things like trying to learn how to walk, or trying to figure out how not to soil herself.

She was an extradimensional entity capable of leveling mountains, not a toddler, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, as the hatch containing her new body opened and an unimaginable amount of disgusting goo poured out, Ramiel swiftly learned that Yui Ikari was a vindictive bitch who had purposefully neglected to teach her how to get LCL out of her new, extremely long hair.

What a _bitch_.

<>

Louise gaped. Sitting there, on a rather odd seat, was a person. A very naked _female_ person. She had _long_ blue hair, way longer than Louise's, and extremely pale skin. She was also completely wet from whatever goo she had been in. (For a moment, Louise thought she recognised the goo, but quickly wrote it off as her imagination.)

The girl opened her eyes, revealing them to be a brilliant ruby colour. And then she spoke. 

“...Titties.” Ramiel’s first word to the world was a muttered noise of amazement as her hands reached up and grasped said body parts, a small gasp of amazement escaping her lips as she realized her new form had possibly one of the best parts of human anatomy. “...Nice.”

Louise narrowed her eyes. There was only one being she knew who would be _that_ uncaring of social conventions. "...Ramiel?" she asked sweetly. 

“Yes?” Ramiel blinked slowly and looked over at Louise, continuing to explore her body and pouting a bit in disappointment at the fact that her core was very visible, almost brooch-like, in the space just below her collarbones. “... You look… smaller like this.”

Louise smiled sweetly. Too sweetly. "Did you just, as your _first_ action as a human, draw attention to the fact that you're bigger than I?" 

“Hm. Yes. I am definitely taller than you,” Ramiel nodded, flexing her AT-Field a little and giggling as she floated out of the pod and next to Louise, the flash of the field vaporizing the LCL coating her body in an instant and leaving her simmering with a strange, sweet, smoky smell. “This is quite nice. I like being tall. I get to see farther.”

Louise facepalmed. "ADAM help me, if you're doing this on purpose-" she paused. "Wait. Who the fuck is ADAM and why do I swear by them?"

“The progenitor, of course,” Ramiel answered, leaning down and resting her chin on Louise’s head with a small smile, breathing deeply and enjoying the scent of Louise’s strawberry scented hair. “Though why you’re swearing by the progenitor I don’t know. Weren’t you swearing by some Brimir person before?”

Louise frowned. "I was." She felt troubled. "...am I changing too fast? Is that what's happening?" 

"We'd love you anyway," yelled Kirche from where she had been conversing with Siesta's great-grandmother. "Who knows, you might even start _not_ blowing up anyone who triggers your breast envy!" 

Louise closed her eyes and sighed loudly. Then she pointed her wand at Kirche and wished for a minor explosion. 

True to form, the explosion that occurred was neither minor nor an explosion, but rather a blast of heat and wind that ended with a rather predictable result. Ramiel whistled lowly, blinking and blatantly staring at Kirche’s now barely covered body with an appreciative gaze.

“I once thought human bodies were gross,” she murmured, a slight grin forming on her face. “But that? That’s pretty nice.”

Kirche giggled. "Uwaaah, Louise! How _forward_ of you, relieving me of my clothes so early in the courtship!" 

Louise sighed. "Kirche, die. Die slow. Ramiel, stop ogling girls that aren't me." 

She froze. "...wait, did I say that out loud?" 

"You did," Tabitha noted. A tiny smirk was playing on her face, only marred by the occasional frown as Ramiel’s new facial features sparked an uncomfortable recognition in her. 

Louise looked around. She glared at nothing in particular. "You know what?" she growled. "That's enough! No more naked people! _Get some fucking clothes on, **both of you!**_"


	20. Chapter 20

After the group had been bundled off to Siesta's father's place (and Kirche and Ramiel had been sorted with new clothes), Louise watched in fascination as the man tore into Not-Siesta with no regard for his own safety. 

"God fucking damn it, Yui!" the man yelled. "I've told you time and again, _stay away from my daughter!_" 

_”I never liked you either when you married my granddaughter,”_ said ‘Yui’ calmly, _”But I tolerated it for my son’s sake. Besides, Siesta sought **me** out. She likes me. Unlike you.”_

The man narrowed his eyes. “Then let me speak to my daughter.”

Not-Siesta smiled. Then, the glow in her eyes faded, and Siesta blinked. She looked her father in the eye, saw him frown, and sighed irritably. “Daddy, were you arguing with Great-Gran again?”

“_Again!?_” Louise couldn’t get the incredulity out of her voice. “You’ve let your ancestor possess you _before!?_”

The father threw up his hands. “See? The young noble has the right reaction! This isn’t _normal,_ Siesta!”

Siesta stared at them both, unamused. “Neither of you quite understand, do you? Father, you married into the family. Miss Valliere, you are a stranger. Great-gran is _family._” She crossed her arms. “Nobody visits her anymore, down there - aside from me. Her contact with the outside world is very limited, for obvious reasons, so I let her borrow my body from time to time.”

Louise stared. “That’s fucked up. Ramiel, tell her it’s fucked up.”

“Sounds like Bardiel. Bardiel was an asshole. Didn’t even have a solid body. I never liked him. Weak bitch,” Ramiel responded, snorting derisively and rolling her eyes, then giggling at the fact that she could now actually do that. “Wasn’t even good at possessing things, just made a mess.”

Siesta’s eyes glowed again, signalling that Yui had once again taken over. “I’d actually rather compare myself to the Angel of Might,” she remarked. “After all, it was he whom I ate to assume my divinity.”

“.... I require new underwear,” Ramiel spoke up suddenly after a pause of several seconds, standing up and leaving the room with just the barest flush on her face.

“And isn’t that a disturbing discovery,” Yui noted. “Oh well. I can work with that. Miss Valliere, if you were so kind as to help your familiar figure out how to, ah, take care of her little problem? I’m afraid I forgot to include that one in her crash course.”

And with a final smirk, the glow faded. Siesta took one look at Louise’s rapidly reddening face, covered her mouth, and fled into a different room. Seconds later, loud laughter was heard from it.

Louise closed her eyes. “What the fuck even is my life anymore.”

<>

Tabitha was in deep thought, ignoring both Kirche’s attempts at communication, and the noises Louise’s newly-human familiar was making in the other room.

The voice. The facial features. Perhaps not the tone, but...

The evidence was inescapable. Somehow, through some inexplicable means...

Ramiel had to be related to Sheffield. 

Tabitha couldn’t reconcile it with anything else, but that was impossible, right? Ramiel’s only human sibling was that creepy Nagisa guy. Unless Sheffield had found a way to disguise herself? She did admit to herself that the woman looked very similar to her. Perhaps she had patterned herself after...?

No, that was ridiculous. Wasn’t it?

Except Nagisa didn’t look anything like either Ramiel or Sheffield. This warranted further thought.

...On second thought, she could just ask Ramiel once the latter was, ah, _finished._ Yeah.

_”Help!”_

Tabitha was roused from her ruminations as a young farmer rushed into the house. “Nobles! Please, help us! There’s a massive airfleet incoming! We don’t know what to do!”

Tabitha smacked her forehead, silently cursing her memory. “Reconquista,” she said. “Didn’t stop them before. Foolish mistake.” She rose. “Will help. Where’s Louise?”

“Helping her Familiar,” Kirche snickered. “I’ll go get them.” She slipped out of the room. There were a few unholy squeaks. Tabitha rolled her eyes.

Kirche returned, grinning, with a red-faced Mage and a smug Familiar in tow. Tabitha sighed. She decided that she did not want to know.

<>

Louise dragged her unruly, perverted Familiar out into the open, fuming. “...and seriously! There are things you just don’t _do_ in polite company!”

Ramiel just shrugged, a rather smug smile on her face as she hummed a few notes of song, then paused at the sight of the random farmer. “... A person. Why are you here?”

“Emergency,” supplied Tabitha from the window. “Invasion.”

Louise peeked out of the door.

A _ridiculously massive_ tide of airships was rolling towards the mainland like an enormous stormcloud, wreathed in ominously crackling magic and accompanied by hordes of dragon riders. Louise blanched. “Ramiel, get out here and go big! We need the precision _and_ the power!”

“Bring the thunder,” Ramiel nodded, stepping out of the house and focusing before she paused and furrowed her brow.

“.... that _bitch_,” Ramiel growled, stomping back inside and slamming the door, punching the wall and denting it with a flex of her AT-Field. “Can’t turn back. Bitch didn’t tell me _how_.”

Louise blanched further, then glared around. “Okay. Where the _fuck_ is Siesta?”

“Gone,” Tabitha reported. “Nowhere here.”

Louise exhaled. “Right. Right. I’ll... try to do what I can.” She stepped outside. “Lend me your power, whatever you might have...”

Louise raised her wand. “Give me _destruct-_ wait what the fuck?”

A harsh light from behind her was casting a shadow. Louise turned around, and her jaw dropped open.

Far back in the hills, where the cave that housed Yui’s monstrous body was, a cross shaped eruption overtook the land and stretched kilometers into the sky with an unearthly howl. Rising up through the center of the cross was the unmistakable form of the Beast’s Raiment, arms spread wide as it took to the skies upon angular wings of orange light, a divine chorus emanating from seemingly nowhere to punctuate its godlike might.

<>

In the Entry Plug of Evangelion Unit-01, in the warm psychic embrace of her ancestor, Siesta giggled in excitement. “Oh, I’ve _always_ wanted to do this!” she gushed.

_”I must admit,”_ the voice of Yui Ikari mused, _”It does get dull being cooped up in a cave after a few decades. You think up all those glorious experiments, and get so little opportunity to actually perform them... Are you ready, Siesta?”_

The quarter-Lilim grinned widely. “Oooooh yessss. Let’s crush those fuckers!”

The Evangelion _flexed_ its AT-field. The lowest formation of airships was instantly halved, hulls plummeting towards the earth as the windstones shot up towards the skies. Siesta gripped the butterfly controls, an almost deranged grin on her face. 

“Oh, we’re just getting _started!_”

Two massive twin-pronged spears, made purely from the Eva’s AT-fields, formed in its hands. The voice of Yui chuckled in the back of Siesta’s mind. _”Then why won’t we finish it?”_


	21. Chapter 21

The battle was almost over before it had even begun. With Siesta at the helm and Yui lending her enthusiastic support, the Beast’s Raiment tore through the Reconquista fleet in mere minutes, destroying ships with its AT-Field spears, tearing them asunder with its AT-Field alone, even flying around and destroying them with fists and tooth, its maw gaping open as Yui roared a thunderous battlecry to the heavens above.

Far below the almost angelic looking form of the Beast’s Raiment, Louise could only stare up in shock at the sheer _brutality_ of it all.

“Sometimes,” Kirche said, undisguised awe in her voice, “I’m okay with not being the biggest fish in the pond.”

“What the fuck,” was Louise’s completely coherent answer. “What the fuck.”

“Brutal,” Tabitha observed. “Effective.”

“This is exactly why I don’t want my daughter anywhere near that thing,” Siesta’s father groused. “This devil is simply unnatural.”

“.... I have never wanted to be inside anything as much as I want to be inside of her right now,” Ramiel deadpanned, eyes shining with an almost manic emotion. “... She’s still a bitch… but that is _sexy_.”

Louise looked askance at her Familiar. “...ever heard of ‘oversharing’?”

But before Ramiel could answer with whatever crassness she could come up with, the Beast’s Raiment dropped from the sky in a three-point landing, eyes aglow and breathing hot steam from its mouth as the remains of Reconquista’s fleet rained down into the sea behind it.

“.... Cool. But also you _BITCH_! TELL ME HOW TO CHANGE BACK!” Ramiel screamed, rushing over to the Beast’s Raiment and smacking it in the hands, the only part that she could actually reach. “TELL ME HOW TO CHANGE BACK OR I _WILL_ FIND A WAY TO DESTROY YOU!”

With a hiss, the armor at the back of its neck splits open. The plug unscrews, and its hatch pops open. Siesta exits the entry plug, shaking LCL from her hair. “Calm down, Familiar of Valliere,” she snaps irritably. “Yui doesn’t know it yet herself. There was a _reason_ for your transformation.”

She’s picking at her goo-soaked clothes in distaste. “I’ll have to change that,” she mutters.

“And _what_ was the reason?” Louise asks icily, rubbing soothing circles into her fuming familiar’s back. 

Siesta shrugged. “From what I understood, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision Great-Gran made as soon as she caught wind of your ‘dimensional shifting capabilities’ as she put it. No clue what any of that means, but she’s brilliant, so she must know what she’s doing.”

“.... So you’re telling me. She turned me into a meat sack. Without knowing how to turn me back.” Ramiel deadpanned, sighing heavily and rubbing her forehead in irritation.

Siesta frowned. “Yui’s a brilliant scientist. Sure, you were an experiment, but so is everyone she interacts with, that one is unavoidable. In fact, I’m certain she-”_”Would like to explain herself, thank you Siesta.”_

The glow was back. _“I do apologize for not telling you, Angel of Thunder. Fact is, had that invasion not showed up as it did, I would have been able to show you. As it is, ripping them apart took precedence.”_

“.... Was kinda hot,” Ramiel nodded slowly, pursing her lips and huffing as she shook her head. “Still wanna be me again. Flesh is… soft. Weak.”

Yui smiled. _“I’m working on that. Let me do that, yes?”_ The glow faded and Siesta hopped off the Raiment’s shoulder. As she waltzed past, she patted Ramiel on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Yui knows what she’s doing.”

<>

Some hours later, once everything had been settled and Yui had decided that parking out in the sun was better than returning to that dusty old cave, Louise blinked in sudden realization and immediately shot out of her seat with a shout.

“We fucking forgot Professor Colbert out in the hills!” she screeched, her hands fisted in her hair as she fretted over the fact that she, Kirche, and Tabitha had stranded the professor out in the hills some several kilometers away.

“... Oops,” Tabitha deadpanned, deciding to hide her face in a book pulled from seemingly nowhere rather than show the blush slowly creeping up her cheeks.

“Good thing miss Siesta noticed,” came the dry statement from the door. “Really, miss Valliere, I had expected better of you.”

“Oh. You’re alive,” Ramiel deadpanned, looking up at the slightly sunburned and dusty form of Professor Colbert from where she sat on the floor, smirking a little bit to contrast with the slightly flabbergasted looks on the other girls’ faces. “Thought you’d died in the explosion. Nice to see you’re not dead.”

“Nice of you to notice,” he remarked, before staring at Ramiel in puzzlement. “Miss...?”

“Ramiel.” Ramiel answered before pausing and making a disappointed face, sticking her tongue out and huffing. “Right. No telepathic data imprinting. Human body is… lacking.”

His eyes widened. “Oh, you were miss Valliere’s familiar, weren’t you?” Colbert adjusted his glasses. “Fascinating. How did you come by the human form?”

“Bitch parked outside,” Ramiel motioned to the gigantic robot casting a shadow over the house with its big fat purple ass. “Turned me human, forgot to tell me that SHE DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO TURN ME BACK!”

Turning, Ramiel shouted the latter half of the sentence out the window, to which the immediate response was a raised middle finger from Siesta, also standing near the window with glowing eyes signifying her possession.

The professor blinked. “I’m sensing a story there.” He then reviewed the familiar’s statement. “Oh, you found the Raiment already?”

Tabitha, Louise, and Kirche performed a synchronized facepalm.

<>

Earth shook as the form of Beast’s Raiment, or rather, the body of Yui Ikari rose from the crouch it had been in, stretching its back with a series of rather painful pops. The locks on the jaw tore open as the Beast growled in satisfaction, its AT-Field glowing.

The entire being was enveloped in a bright white light as it rose into the sky. A beam of concentrated psychic information lanced from its chest and struck Ramiel as she stood, staring at the Evangelion in contempt.

Ramiel rolled her eyes as the information flooded through her soul, huffing and crossing her arms. “About fucking time. Old hag.”

With a final clang to punctuate her point, Ramiel’s form coalesced back into its octahedral form with a loud sigh of relief, her voice reverberating oddly as it vibrated through her surface.

“Can’t believe you turned me into a human without even figuring how to change back first. Typical Lilim behavior.”

_**”IT WAS INSTRUMENTAL,”**_ a voice boomed from the giant of light. _**”FOR THIS.”**_

The glow flared, then _shrank,_ along with the entire form of the Evangelion. Wings of Light flared briefly and collapsed onto themselves as the shape shrank further and further, the light growing denser and denser, before at last it was human-sized.

The still-glowing figure raised its hands and _vented_ its light upwards in a column of light one could probably see all throughout Halkeginia.

It dropped out of the sky, leaving a crater. Yui Ikari rose from the crater, a wild grin on her face. A horned helmet framed her face and armor covered her torso and calves, but aside from that, her skin was bare.

She flexed her fingers. “Oh _yes._ I’m back.”


	22. Chapter 22

“What the _fu-_”

Louise’s exclamation of disbelief was cut off as Tabitha scrambled backwards, eyes wide. The bluenette was gripping her staff tightly. “You look like _her._ Why. Why. Why.”

Louise gave the wind mage a concerned glance. “Are you okay, Tabitha?”

“... Oh. So that’s why I look like this,” Ramiel deadpanned, shifting back to her human form and looking at the similarities between herself and Yui. “... Wait then why does Tabris look kind of like you too? You two aren’t even related.”

Yui tilted her head. “Tabris does not. I would know; I held him in my hand as my son killed him. I saw his face.”

“...” Ramiel paused, then squinted at Yui and huffed. “You Lilim look the same to me. How can you even tell each other apart without drastic differences in coloration and physical shape?”

“We look,” Yui deadpanned. “With eyes.”

“Wait a damn second,” Louise interrupted. “What the Hell do you mean, you _killed_ Tabris? _How_ did you kill Tabris? _When?_”

Yui looked at the mage oddly. “He was the final Angel before Instrumentality. Of course he had to be killed. I felt my hand squeeze his body until decapitation. Why?”

Louise looked at Ramiel. “But... We met...”

“Tabris is a bastard who uses his dimensional refraction to be himself across timelines instead of storing excess mass like a normal Angel,” Ramiel deadpanned, rolling her eyes and huffing at Yui’s overly dramatic nature. 

Louise sighed. “Of course he is.” She took another glance at Tabitha, who was staring at Yui, eyes wide, hands gripping her staff, shaking like a leaf. So naturally, Louise marched right up to Yui and poked her finger into her chest. “Okay. Now. Why is Tabitha so afraid of you? _Spill._”

Yui shrugged. “Haven’t the faintest. Perhaps she met Rei?”

“... Oh, the clone of you that Armisael tried to impregnate,” Ramiel muttered, shuddering in disgust and making a revolted face. “Disgusting tapeworm. She’s here too?”

Yui smirked craftily. “You know,” she mentioned casually, “you really should be more polite towards your sister, Angel.”

“There is not a single force in any universe that will make me happy about being related to Armisael,” Ramiel deadpanned.

Yui hid her smile behind her hand. “Oh, I meant the _other_ sister.”

“... Zeruel…?” Ramiel tilted her head, purposefully obtuse and not even trying to hide it.

Yui rolled her eyes. “I meant Rei, you obtuse tool. You both share my genes now, therefore she’s your half-sister.” She tilted her head. “Despite being Lilith, that is.”

“Ah, her. That motherfucker. What a tool,” Ramiel deadpanned sticking out her tongue at the mention of Lilith. “What a bitch.”

“_Anyway,_” Louise forced herself back into the bitch-off as she was rubbing soothing circles into Tabitha’s back, “Don’t you think we should _do_ something about this ‘Rei’ person?”

Yui tilted her head. “Like what?”

“Annihilation?” Ramiel suggested, spinning back into crystal form for a moment and humming ominously while charging up a full power beam. “That solves almost every single problem!”

Yui hummed. “I seem to recall that annihilation _failed_ to solve the problem of you reaching Lilith.”

“Bah, that’s only because you were there. Besides, it’s not like I was really trying _that_ hard. Why do you think I used a drill instead of blasting through all that useless armor?” Ramiel rolled her eyes and raised her middle finger at Yui, seamlessly shifting between crystal and human as she sat back down on the floor. “I was mostly just having fun blowing stuff up.”

Louise was massaging her forehead. “If you two would just shut up? That would be great. Would do wonders to my developing headache. Specifically the making it go away part.”

“I wonder if I could annihilate a headache if I shot the right parts,” Ramiel muttered, rubbing her chin consideringly before looking over at Siesta. “Sassy maid girl, wanna be a guinea pig?”

Louise made a sound like a boiling kettle. “For ADAM’s sake, Ramiel, what is _wrong_ with you! You’re even more trigger-happy than I was before I summoned you! _Stay on topic, damn it!_”

“Oh right. There was a topic?” Ramiel asked, tilting her head and sidling over to Tabitha, poking the tiny girl in the cheek and wondering why she was still freaking out. “.... Is the small blue one going to be okay?”

Louise let out an explosive sigh. “I don’t know. I’ve never even _seen_ her emote this much. However she knows that Rei must have left a lasting impression on her.”

“Joseph’s Familiar.”

Louise blinked, turning to the bluenette. “...Sorry?”

“Joseph of Gallia. Void mage. Familiar. Sheffield.” Tabitha was speaking in quick, clipped sentences, clutching her staff like it was a lifeline. “Trained me. Unforgiving. Inhuman. Knows all buttons. Holds all strings. Controls everything. Joseph doesn’t suspect.”

Louise furrowed her brow. “Joseph of Gallia... that’s the Mad King! Wait, Void Mage? There haven’t been any Void Mages since Brimir!”

Tabitha shook her head rapidly. “Untrue. Hushed up. Joseph one. Pope one. Elf another. You too.”

Louise blinked. “Tiffania’s a _Void Mage?_ No, wait, hold up. _I’m_ a Void Mage? How the Hell would you know that!?”

“Your magic,” was the concise answer. “Unstable. Joseph’s magic. Also unstable.”

Louise tilted her head. “Well that’s not any kind of conclusive evidence,” she remarked.

“Void Familiars,” Tabitha answered. “Sheffield. Miodaitnir. Ramiel. Lifrasir. Tabris. Gandalfr. Vindalfr unknown.” She turned her blue eyes at Louise, and the rosecrown sucked in a breath at the desperation within them. “You. Gamble. Protection. Apology.”

Louise swallowed. “You don’t have to apologize, Tabitha.” Her mind whirled. She wanted more and more answers, but the wind mage wasn’t in any shape to provide them. So she simply hugged the other girl. “It’s okay. I swear. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

Behind her, Yui leaned next to Kirche and asked softly, “That harem you said she had. She recruiting?”

“... Oh so you pick _her_ instead of me?” Ramiel grumbled, rolling her eyes and flipping off Yui again. “Bitch.”

<>

“- and that’s basically everything,” Louise finished off her tale recounting the treasure hunt of the last few weeks, folding her hands primly in her lap and taking in the bemused expression that Headmaster Osmond wore on his face. “Any questions?”

Behind her, Ramiel floated ominously in human form, eyes glowing and hair floating upwards to form a diamond shape around her body, projecting almost palpable waves of amusement in the process.

The headmaster gazed at the floating familiar in contemplation. “..what color panties does she wear?”

“....” Louise sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing her forehead and trying not to explode the Headmaster out the window. “Any _other_ questions?”

“Can you get Miss Longueville out from under her desk? She’s hiding in a way that makes it absolutely impossible to get a look at her underwear,” Osmond asked, a shameless smirk on his face.

“Fuck off!” came the slightly muffled reply, followed shortly by a distressed squeak as Osmond’s familiar, Motsognir, came flying over the desk and flopped to a halt directly beneath Ramiel. Osmond smirked in a way that was distinctly inappropriate.

“Classic white. Nice.”


	23. Chapter 23

“My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from the very bottom of my heart - add to my guidance and appear!” 

Henrietta waved her wand about and poured every last bit of her magic into the summoning spell. Ethereal patterns of water swirled about in the air, blocking her and the portal from view and soaking the walls of the summoning chamber. 

“Come!”

And in a flash of light, an eruption of steam, and a crackling _boom_ of shattering ice, it appeared.

A single enormous sphere of crimson crystal, topped with a birdlike mask that fell to the ground and shattered like brittle porcelain.

Henrietta tapped her chin with her wand. She wasn’t exactly _quite_ sure how this worked - she had gotten the incantation from Louise - but she was reasonably certain the next part needed a kiss.

She stepped forward. “My name is Henrietta de Tristain. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, bless this humble being, and make them my familiar.” Lightly giggling to herself, she pressed her lips on the cool surface of the orb.

Immediately, the crystal orb _erupted_ to life, a distorted screech of crackling ice and whale-like song echoing as metallic structures formed out of thin air, the core of the beast becoming surrounded by a fleshy orb of crimson skin and eye-like patterns. Up and up it went, bursting through the ceiling of the chamber and out into open air, calling out its name to the world.

_A Z A R I E L_

Henrietta stared upwards. “...I am so grounded.” She tilted her head. “But I could swear I’ve felt this type of communication before... Azariel, was it? Do you happen to know a ‘Ramiel’?”

_S I S T E R_

Azariel’s response was swift and courteous, the massive clock-like being folding in on itself with a sound similar to rustling chains and meshing gears, shrinking down to a size just taller than Henrietta herself. It emoted that Ramiel was its sibling Angel, and that it was the younger of the two, though not nearly as powerful. Something in its nonexistent voice made Henrietta think of a polite butler, as opposed to Ramiel’s constant aura of smugness.

Henrietta smiled. “I’m glad you have family here, Azariel. Did you miss her?”

_I N C A P A B L E_

Azariel’s twin birdlike masks ticked round and round its neck while it projected, stating that before it was given free will by being bound as Henrietta’s familiar, it was incapable of feeling emotion, as its body was incapable of replicating those processes- it was a sentient death machine, and even Ramiel had more emotive capability. It did, however, wish to see Ramiel again as soon as possible.

Gasping, Henrietta gathered her new familiar into a hug. “Oh, you poor thing!” She looked contemplative. “You know, I haven’t seen Louise since she went on that treasure hunt... Do you want to come with me to visit her and Ramiel tomorrow?” She glanced up at the mangled ceiling. “Or after however long my grounding lasts?”

_A G R E E A B L E_

Azariel made a motion almost like a nod, though it really resembled something more like the motion of one of those toy drinking birds than an actual nod. Silently, its twin masks ticked onwards, projecting an emotion bordering on happiness, but falling just short.

Henrietta smiled again. “I’m glad.”

<>

“.... Oh hey, Azariel is here,” Ramiel spoke up suddenly from where she’d been idly burning patterns into the desk next to Louise’s, standing up and looking out the window while tilting her head. “... How is Azariel here?”

Louise looked over. “Who’s Azariel?”

“My…. sibling. Kinda looks like a really stupid clock.” Ramiel answered, sitting back down and huffing as she looked over Louise’s work and raising an eyebrow. “Azariel is… bland. Kinda boring.”

Louise stopped writing down the equations. “I wonder.” She glanced at Ramiel. “Remember yesterday, when Henrietta sent us that owl and you attempted to incinerate the bird? She asked me what incantation I used to summon you.” She scratched the back of her neck. “I used a non-standard one, kind of born from desperation, but I gave her what she asked. You don’t think she actually decided to _use_ it? I thought she was doing research, but if you say one of your siblings is here...”

“.... You made a spell that summons my siblings,” Ramiel muttered, making an almost hysterical sounding laugh. “Shit. If the wrong person finds the incantation we might _actually_ have to deal with Armisael. Eugh. Disgusting tapeworm.”

Louise rolled her eyes. “Sometimes, I think you might be exaggerating about your family.”

Ramiel was saved from answering by a hesitant knock on the door. Louise tilted her head. “Strange. I don’t actually know anyone who knocks like that...” 

She rose, walking to the door and opening it curiously. “Huh. Hello Montmorency. What brings you to the lair of violence and destruction?”

The blonde girl on the other side of the door let out a nervous giggle. “Coincidentally, a need of violence and destruction, hopefully.”

Louise raised her eyebrows. “Ooooookay. I wasn’t serious, but come on in.” She held the door open. “Finally decided to tear your fop a new one?”

Montmorency rolled her eyes. “Oh, if it would be that simple. No, Guiche’s continued unfaithfulness isn’t what is at stake here - it takes a bit of explaining.”

“If it involves a big thing that needs blowing up, we’ll do it,” Ramiel interrupted Montmorency before she could speak, immediately shifting to her crystalline form and rippling with glee. “Haven’t gotten to blow anything up in _days_.”

Montmorency looked over in interest. “I see your familiar has figured out how to speak like a normal person, and I notice she has the exact kind of disposition I was expecting from her. But I digress.” The water mage leaned against the doorframe. “My need, as it stands, has to do with a Water Spirit who lives in the Lagdorian Lake, next to my family’s lands. Recently, she has started to raise the waters, flooding the areas around the lands, and eventually the lands themselves.” She frowned. “She refuses to listen to kind word, and won’t speak with my family. Thus, I need an unkind word - and I’m not capable of outclassing her in terms of power.”

Louise rolled her eyes. “And so you came to _me?_”

The girl looked at her oddly. “Well, of course. Despite your dispensity for exploding anything you come in contact with, your power has always been high. Even _I’ve_ noticed it.”

“Finally, someone recognizes your talents,” Ramiel deadpanned, humming and shifting idly as she began burning arcane shapes and symbols into the walls without any particular rhyme or reaso- 

“Ramiel stop grafitti-ing my walls we have actual _work_ to do,” Louise sighed, grumbling as Ramiel spitefully charred a poorly drawn penis on the wall in response.

Montmorency stared. “One, is this what you two are like all the time? Two, can I count on your assistance yet?”

Louise shrugged. “In order, pretty much, and depends on if the geometric shape over there is willing to be used to threaten things without actually blowing them up.”

“If I can still shoot stuff I’ll be fine,” Ramiel answered, promptly shifting back to human form and flopping down onto the bed, sighing happily at its warm embrace. “Mmmm~ human bodies are squishy and gross but feeling soft things is soooo nice~”

Louise patted Montmorency comfortingly on the back. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to her very quick.”

“Well _that_ explains a lot,” the girl snarked.

<>

Louise gazed down at the flooded lake, arms crossed. She looked over at Montmorency, who was standing next to her, and Ramiel, who was hovering behind her. “So, what do we do? Start blasting immediately, or do you wanna try talking one last time?”

Montmorency gazed down at the lake. “I will pick option two. She may not be up to talking, but she should at least show up.” She grimaced. “Worst comes to worst, you’d at least have a target to aim at.”

“I can wait,” Ramiel piped up, unfolding into a dizzying array of crystal spires and pointing her core at the water, glowing ominously as she charged up. “It’ll take some time to get a really good beam going at this size anyway.”

Montmorency raised an eyebrow. “Right.” Her frog familiar hopped onto her shoulder. The water mage put a finger in her mouth and bit down, _hard._ She then squeezed a drop of blood onto her frog’s head, and let it jump into the waters.

“What?” she asked defensively, seeing Louise stare at her. “It’s to let the spirit know that someone of my bloodline is here. Nothing weird about that.”

“I’m not judging,” Louise said. Judgingly.

“I’m judging. Why would you use your teeth when you could just carry around a knife?” Ramiel asked, quite confused about the whole thing. “Seems like it’d be a lot easier than biting down like that.”

“Didn’t have one,” Montmorency murmured. “Oh, good. She’s coming. Here’s to hoping.”

The waters of the lake churned, and shot upwards. A column of water formed, and reformed, until it took the shape of Montmorency. Correction, it took a very _naked_ shape of Montmorency, at least four times taller than the girls themselves. Montmorency blushed.

The Spirit looked down at them. “A Montmorency. An unknown. I have no words for you. Begone from my lake.”

Louise narrowed her eyes. “You _better_ have words for us, Spirit, or you’ll _have_ no lake.”

It tilted its head. “And who are _you_ to threaten me, Unknown?”

Louise smiled grimly. “Ramiel, give her a warning shot.”

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

Ramiel slipped back into projecting information out of sheer glee, growing in size until she unfolded into a house sized star and unleashing a beam that just barely skimmed off the Spirit’s body and disappeared off into the night sky, the sheer power and heat of the beam immediately vaporizing whatever water it came near.

The Spirit immediately shrieked as it flinched away, cowed into submission by Ramiel’s power.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Ramiel gloated, shifting back to human form with a smug grin on her face.


	24. Chapter 24

Louise was leaning back against a tree, smug grin on her face. “I take it we have your attention now? Good. Now _talk._”

The water being shuddered. “W-what would the Mistress want to know?”

Louise gestured to Montmorency. “Well, go on, MonMon. Ask her.”

The spirit shook her head. “No, Mistress. I only answer to you now. Ask me anything, and I shall grant it.”

Louise glanced at Ramiel. “Do I just attract every female in a certain radius now? Is this your doing? Is that what’s going on?”

“Having that much power is pretty hot,” Ramiel nodded, smiling impishly as she hovered behind Louise. “I know I’m attracted to anyone that can do a lot of damage~”

“Just so you know,” Louise snarked at her Familiar, “if MonMon starts vying for my attentions, I’m holding you responsible.”

“I wouldn’t mind. She has cute hair,” Ramiel sniggered.

Louise let out a long-suffering sigh. “At any rate. Getting back on topic. Why the Hell are you flooding the local Lands, Spirit?”

“Mages have stolen my Ring, the Ring of Andvari,” the Spirit replied promptly. “It is an artifact of great power, and I am looking to get it _back_.”

Louise was massaging her forehead. “And because you _are_ the Lake, you’re expanding your borders to cover more ground around it. I’m starting to understand. But how do you know if you have found it?”

“Because I know what the thief looks like,” the Spirit answered. “I know of no other being that looks like that.”

Louise rubbed her chin. “Perhaps if you could describe them to us? If nobody else looks like that, then we could search for them ourselves and stop you from flooding the place?”

The Spirit tilted her head. “The thief looks almost exactly like your Familiar, Mistress, but her hair is much shorter and her body much older. She bears the sign of the Void on her forehead.”

Louise looked Ramiel in the eye. “_Sheffield._”

“Time to commit regicide,” Ramiel chirped cheerfully, grinning far wider than anyone would be comfortable with, eyes glowing brightly and core flashing with light.

<>

“...so the Spirit of Lagdorian Lake has agreed to withdraw while we look for the Ring, but she now answers to me only and MonMon is categorically unhelpful,” Louise complained to Tabitha. “You don’t mind if we catastrophically murder your Uncle, do you?”

“I’ll make it quick,” Ramiel offered, giggling slightly as her eyes glowed with murderous intent. “Boom. Blow up the castle.”

“Might not work,” cautioned Tabitha. “Crafty. Intelligent. If Sheffield present...”

Louise snorted haughtily. “Oh _please._ She’s just one Lilim. _We_ are Destruction.”

Tabitha frowned. “Clone of Yui Ikari,” she said. “Highly dangerous.”

“Yes,” Louise snarked, “because I’ve yet to meet someone who can outsmart explosions.”

“And overconfidence is the beginning of anyone’s downfall, Chibi-Louise!”

Louise froze, blanching rapidly. “Oh no,” she whispered. The next moment she found herself pushed away from Tabitha, and her cheek pinched rather painfully. She forced a glare upwards. “Big sister?” she growled. “Let me _go!_”

Eleonore Albertine de la Bloise de la Valliere glared back down at her. “Not even a chance, little sister! What’s this I hear about you going off to fight wars? Or _killing_ people? Who the hell do you think you are?”

Louise found her hand latching onto Eleonore’s wrist. “_Not_ putting up with your cheek-pinching antics, for one,” she growled. “For two - Ramiel? Little help?”

“.... Hot,” Ramiel blinked slowly, blushing ever so slightly at the sight of Eleonore’s unamused face. “... Um. I mean. Unhand my master or die?”

“Oh _very helpful_ you power-attracted lunatic!” Louise yelled in aggravation. “For ADAM’s sake must I do everything myself - where’s my wand?”

Eleonore stared down at her little sister, pinching her cheek with one hand and holding two wands in the other. “I don’t think I’ll allow you to have this just yet, Chibi-Louise. You haven’t answered my questions yet.”

Louise’s eyes flashed. “Let. _Me. **GO!**_”

With an eruption of orange light that defied explanation, something inside of Louise _sang_, and what looked like a hexagon pattern bubble of rippling, rainbow hued static burst into existence around her. The bubble expanded instantly, throwing Eleanore away and causing Ramiel to gasp in a mixture of confusion and excitement before it collapsed and vanished, only the faintest hint of ozone in the air as proof of its existence.

Louise blinked. “What the fuck just happened?”

“Unexpected,” was Tabitha’s contribution. The blue-haired girl was picking herself up, training her staff towards Eleonore.

Louise shook her head, ignoring her flabbergasted big sister for the moment. “Well of course it was unexpected, Tabby. That’s why I asked.” She gathered her wand and pointed it, too, at Eleonore, while glancing towards Ramiel. “That couldn’t have been what I thought it was, right?”

“... Well that wasn’t an AT-Field, but it was… _almost_ one,” Ramiel muttered, blinking slowly as she considered what she just saw. “.... Soul isn’t configured right for it… almost had it with the magic, but the wavelength is off…. But how did you do it in the first place?”

“I... haven’t the faintest,” Louise confessed. “I just know I needed Eleonore to _get away_ and this happened.” She sheathed her wand and sat down. “I haven’t gained any Angelic organs at this point yet. I think. Perhaps something about the mentality?” She made a face. “I’d bring Yui into this, but it would just end up with you two hateflirting and we’d get nothing done.”

“She _does_ know how to hateflirt really well,” Ramiel blushed, grinning shamelessly and twirling her finger through her hair. “.... Hm. Azariel is getting closer. Why is Azariel getting closer?”

“Perhaps Azariel is coming to visit,” snarked Louise. She sighed. “Aside from my endless stream of problems, how have you been, Eleonore?”

The woman blinked. “I... fine. My researches have been going well.” She narrowed her eyes. “I did chew out your Princess earlier for sending you to a warzone, but that’s par the course for an older sister. So how _did_ you get out of there intact?”

Louise huffed. “A _long_ story involving accidental regicide, betrayals, Familiars, and a ridiculous amount of power. Incidentally, mention _one word_ about anything involving regicides to Mother and I’ll kill you myself.”

Eleonore frowned. “You’ve gotten callous, Chibi-Louise. Are you practicing Dark Magic? Meddling in Evil?”

“Experiencing two-way personality bleedover with my Familiar,” Louise sighed. “Say hello, Ramiel.”

_H E L L O_

Ramiel’s answer came swiftly and with all the metaphysical weight of a truck collision at well over a hundred mph. She shifted into a crystalline form, expanding into a dizzying array of star shaped spikes and glowing ominously as she towered over Eleonore like a spiteful god.

Louise gestured. “See what I have to put up with?”

“You know,” Eleonore mused, “if this bleedover is that dangerous, we could just kill your current familiar and you can summon a new one.”

Louise stared. She exchanged glances with Tabitha. Then she palmed her face. “My sister is requesting a sunburn,” she sighed.

_W A R N I N G_

Ramiel giggled madly at Eleonore’s declaration, spinning and charging before unleashing hell upon the countryside, flashing with crimson light and detonating a nearby hill with such force that the resultant explosion reduced the hill to so much ash and molten glass.

Moments later, the rolling heatwave washed over the group of girls and instantly made Eleonore’s eyelashes almost wither from the sudden rise in temperature.

_I N V U L N E R A B L E_

Ramiel declared smugly, folding back into herself and smirking as she crossed her arms and stared challengingly at the very much shell-shocked Eleonore.

And then the temperature _dropped_.

_C O L L A T E R A L_

An angelic impression almost like Ramiel’s but slightly more polite echoed through the air, slamming down with the weight of undeniable authority as a sound not unlike a hammer striking an anvil rang out over and over.

“.... Shit, Azariel’s here,” Ramiel sighed, rubbing her forehead and watching the towering form of her clock-like sibling crest the now frozen crater that was once a hill. “Wonderful.”

_G R E E T I N G S_

“Yeah I’m doing fine you insufferable nanny!” Ramiel yelled back, irritated beyond belief at the thought that Azariel apparently thought she couldn’t take care of herself. So she’d nearly gotten blown up. She got better. And she was even hotter now, so suck it.

“Hello Louise Francoise! Hello Eleonore Albertine! Greetings, Charlotte de Gallia!”

Henrietta was now standing at the doorway, smiling widely. “I let my new Familiar take the long way round; she wanted to make an impression. Did she manage? Was it nice?”

Louise buried her face in her hands as Tabitha patted her on the shoulder. “ADAM damn it, Henrietta, when I gave you the altered spell, I _thought_ you were going to _research_ it, not _use_ it! What if you’d managed to summon Armisael? We’d have an Angel-Angel war on our hands!”

The Princess tilted her head. “But Louise Francoise, I’ve always wanted a Familiar! How could I not use it?”

Louise _sighed._

<>

“Master, I’ve retrieved the Ring of Andvari for you, as commanded.” Sheffield bowed low, kneeling before her master. The darkened room cast ominous shadows around them, the flickering candles only adding to the atmosphere.

The ring glinted on the desk behind which her master sat, hands folded before him as he leaned forwards.

“Cromwell?” he asked, a low utterance that echoed strangely in the confines of the hidden room.

“Eliminated, just as the rest of Reconquista was,” Sheffield answered.

“Good.”

He leaned back as a candle sprung to life on the desk, illuminating his features and letting his glasses catch the light, twin circles of white glowing and obscuring his eyes.

“Very good, Rei,” Gendo Ikari murmured, taking the ring and returning it to its velvet lined box, sliding it into a drawer in his desk. “Hm. With this ring, and knowing Yui… she’ll be back in my arms all too soon. Everything is proceeding as planned.”


	25. Interludes II

“...as you can see,” Yui Ikari was explaining to Jean Colbert, “an AT-Field is actually very similar to your magic - it comes from the soul. What is different is the _fundamental_ construction of the soul.” She wrote a few arithmantical equations to the board. “This, for example, is a basic arithmantical construction of an Air-based shield spell. And _this..._” 

Yui wrote another, similar set, yet using far different symbology. “...is a basic metaphysical representation of an Adamite AT-Field. See the basic structure _here?_” She underlined a part of the set. “This is virtually identical to the structure _there-_” Yui circled a part of the original set- “in that they’re both expressed from the soul. See what I mean?”

Professor Colbert nodded. “Yes, indeed. A very simplistic technique in and itself, isn’t it?” 

Yui nodded. “Simplistic, yes. Yet despite that, the only Halkeginian mage I can tentatively classify as theoretically capable of it- oh hello Siesta- is Louise Valliere, due to her unprecedented connection with the Angel Ramiel.”

Professor Colbert looked over. “Ah, hello miss Siesta. How was your...?”

The maid in question rolled her eyes. “You can call it ‘snooping’, Professor, I don’t mind. And it was... divisive. Lots of nonsense, but there were a few interesting tidbits - most of them involving our local Void Mage of course.”

Jean Colbert hummed. “I’m not surprised. She was a magnet for explosions even before she summoned the Heart of God. Speaking of-” he looked to Yui- “Lifrasir’s effects are the reason you theorize her capable of eventually manifesting an AT-Field, yes?”

Yui nodded, eyes sparkling. “Oh yes. She’s using her familiar as a conduit for her magic, but every time she casts a spell, her soul gains more and more properties of ADAM’s Children; amusingly enough, the converse happens whenever the Angel of Thunder uses her own AT-Field.” She giggled. “Oh, I can’t _wait_ until their hybridization is complete! Think of the data I’d be able to get from them!”

Professor Colbert chuckled. “Oh, were I thirty years younger, dear Yui.”

The woman raised an amused eyebrow. “Jean Colbert, the _shame!_ I _am_ a married woman, you know.”

Siesta cleared her throat. “Do either of you want my report or not?” She glared at Yui. “That reminds me, Great-gran, stop trying to peddle me off to miss Valliere’s harem already, would you?”

Yui waved her hand irritably. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You actually have a report? Then _report._”

Siesta _exhaled._ “Oh very well. Miss Valliere and Familiar have visited Lagdorian Lake. Ring of Andvari is missing. Princess Henrietta has disobeyed orders and summoned a Familiar. Angel of Thunder knows said familiar. Eleonore Valliere has arrived to the Academy. And I have spotted Target Beta.”

Yui tented her fingers. “You have? Interesting. Find Target Beta and give him a message from me, would you? I have a proposal for him...”

<>

Tiffania looked out onto the dark mass of clouds. “How did we get here?” she asked rhetorically.

“We got to be PIRATES!” was Little August’s contribution, big grin on his face, tooth gap and all. “And it was AWESOME!”

Tiffania smiled down at the boy. “Yes it was, August. But wasn’t it a little too violent for your tastes?” 

The kid grinned at her. “Nope! Mistah Nagisa was awesome! And he let us wear eyepatches and ev’rything! He’s so COOL!”

Tiffania smothered a smile. Yes, the expression on that poor shipmaster’s face when he was overwhelmed by a tide of twenty kids (and Kaworu) between ages of six and twelve had been highly amusing, she couldn’t lie. “And does Mister Nagisa allow you to go to bed without brushing your teeth?”

Watching the conflict on the boy’s face was also amusing. If he said yes, he’d be ratting out cool mister Nagisa, but if he said no, he’d be lying to kind miss Tiffa! 

Tiffania laughed and ruffled his hair. “Go on, August. I’ll stay on deck. I can manage that at least, can’t I?”

August put on a serious face and saluted adorably. “Y’s Cap’n!” He scurried off.

“As a matter of fact, it was only the one time,” Kaworu muttered, stepping out from behind Tiffania with a put upon look on his face. He seemed rather tired, having dealt with some twenty odd children for the last several days almost without pause. Even an immortal teleporting superbeing couldn’t last forever, it seemed.

Tiffania giggled. “As long as the kids remember. Are you feeling well, Kaworu?”

“I need a nap,” Kaworu deadpanned, yawning under his breath and rubbing his eyes. “Infinite energy I might have, but that doesn’t seem to stop me from getting tired when dealing with kids…”

“The trick,” Tiffania explained, “is that you’re not used to them. You need to gently show them what you’re up to and what you’re not, and they’ll then respect your boundaries as long as you respect theirs.” She chuckled. “I used to be a total mess before Mathilda helped me out with it.” 

Tiffania looked out at the dark sky ahead. “I _really_ hope nothing bad has happened to her and she just forgot...”

“She’s been busy playing secretary to a perverted old man,” Kaworu sighed, sitting down on the closest available surface and leaning back, far too tired to be a cryptic shithead. “Also she may or may not be secretly pining after Louise, just like what seems like half the female population of Tristain.”

Tiffania giggled. “Being tired makes you nicer, Kaworu-kun.” She looked down, towards the approaching shoreline. “Louise should appreciate what she has gained. She may need them all _very soon..._ Oh _yes..._”

<>

_Dear diary,_

_As much as I find this practice unnecessary, the commander has asked me to keep a log of my daily thoughts and feelings, claiming that it will help to vent my frustrations even if I am not physically speaking to anyone about them._

_Thus, I shall list out my grievances._

_One: Joseph is an incompetent shithead. I’ve caught him picking his nose when no one is around, purposefully urinating in the gardens, and other such disgusting habits. I hate him. I hate him so much._

_His battle tactics are terrible, his political plans like something out of a children’s cartoon in their unsubtle and overwhelmingly stupid villainy, and he has the gall to call himself a genius for poisoning his brother and usurping the throne, which any two bit hackjob idiot could do given the fact that half the people around here seem entirely unable to check for poisons in their meals even with magic._

_Two: I miss rice. And Japanese food. _

_It is petty and stupid, but so much of the food here is somewhat bland and oftentimes far too bread-filled and sugary for my palate. I may not have eaten much other than disgusting convenience store prepackaged meals back on Tokyo-3, but it was still better than drowning in thousands of sugar filled pastries._

_I fear I will contract diabetes if I indulge my slowly growing sweet tooth._

_Three: I really miss Shinji._

_He was here, once, but he is long dead and I never got the chance to see him. I miss him quite a bit, and I am quite annoyed that I never got to say a proper goodbye._

_Four: I sort of miss Asuka._

_…_

_Actually I kind of take that back. She was a good pilot but she was also a huge bitch so good riddance._

_Five: I may or may not be a lesbian and the confusion about my sexuality has been driving me to no end of stress._

_I might as well just give up and say that I am bisexual._

_Six: Wearing these ridiculous wizard robes all the time is awful. _

_They are not even robes. This outfit is some godawful mix of spandex and silk and it shows off entirely too much of my body for me to be comfortable._

_I want my school uniform back, but it would probably look even worse on me now that I am an adult and not a fifteen year old girl._

_That is all for now._

_I do not know how to end this entry so I will simply sign it._

_\- Rei Ayanami_


	26. Chapter 26

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’M FAILING MY CLASSES!?” Louise shrieked, almost on the verge of tearing out her hair as she received back her quarterly grades. “AND FOR _ATTENDANCE ISSUES!?_”

“... Darling, I’d hardly call going from an A to a B+ average failing,” Kirche muttered, looking over Louise’s shoulder and quite possibly deliberately squishing her chest against Louise’s back.

“Not _ALL_ of us get by on boobs alone,” Louise snarled. “SOME of us have to _WORK_ to get somewhere!”

“...why do you need to work to get anywhere?” Kirche asked in confusion. “You’re basically this close to marrying the Princess all by yourself. I don’t think you’d need to go higher than that...”

“.... I what now?” Louise blinked twice in consternation, turning her head back to ask Kirche what she meant only to get a faceful of boob. “Gah! Get your fat boobs off my head!”

Tabitha snickered quietly. “Adventures and attendance incompatible,” she pointed out. 

“Yes, well, shut your hell,” was Louise’s eloquent and highly amusing response.

Meanwhile, outside the tower, Ramiel found herself engrossed in conversation with Azariel-

_B L A C K_

_B L U E_

_ **B L A C K** _

_ **B L U E** _

-which is to say, the two of them were both engrossed in a furious debate on which color was better for Henrietta to wear. Ramiel was of the mind that blue was a far superior color, while Azariel categorically refused to back down from black.

Given their respective color schemes, it was easy to see why they chose the colors they did.

A brown-haired head peeked from a window a few levels down. “I’M RATHER PARTIAL TO PURPLE, MYSELF!” yelled the voice of Yui Ikari. “DON’T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE, YOU TWO!”

_B I T C H_

Ramiel called back, huffing as she shifted back to human form with a loud grumble. Azariel, meanwhile just bowed its head(s) and clanked off towards the castle to find Henrietta.

“... Hm.” Ramiel tapped her chin, then looked back up at Yui. “.... Oi, bitch! Can you make Azariel a Lilim form too?”

The form of Yui Ikari appeared to consider it for a second. Then she jumped from the window, swelled to her Evangelion form, and landed with an earthshaking _thoom._

_A G R E E M E N T_

She projected, expressing somewhat clumsily the concept of “sure, as long as she owes me a favor later”.

“... Couldn’t you just stick to… uh… whatever language this is,” Ramiel groused, rubbing her temples as she parsed the crude data packet and rolled her eyes. “Your encoding is awful and it’s a hassle to decipher the actual data through all the signal noise.”

_D A T A ?_

Yui once again communicated, somehow managing to project a feeling of irritation into a request of encoding packet.

“... Let’s just pretend I could understand that through all the fuzz,” Ramiel sighed, then shifted to her angel form and called Azariel back with a single crystal clear broadcast of 

_R E T U R N_

_Q U E R Y_

Azariel asked, wondering exactly why there was a giant purple robot standing there now, and what exactly Ramiel meant by getting a human form.

And then Yui summarily picked Azariel up and stuffed the shrunken skeletal clock-like angel into her core before Azariel could even react. She flashed Ramiel a thumbs-up, then knelt down.

_Ripples_ spread out over the purple behemoth’s form, shimmering with a faint black undertone. A lightshow of white was playing across Yui’s skin, converging at the back of her neck. The entry armor moved out of the way, dispensing the Entry Plug, which Yui promptly gripped and removed from her spine. She extended her palm, with the plug on it, towards Ramiel, projecting irritation and impatience.

“Yeah yeah, let’s get this over with,” Ramiel rolled her eyes and summarily popped open the hatch, diverting the flood of LCL with her AT-Field so that it didn’t splatter all over her nice clean clothes and waiting for Azariel to wake up fully.

“.... Why am I wearing a mask?” Azariel asked, stepping out of the plug with her hands carefully covering her private areas. She was indeed wearing a mask, a bird-like one resembling her angelic false head that she took off moments later and which dissipated into nothingness with a flex of willpower. Strangely enough, despite looking almost exactly like Ramiel, her hair was silver and styled into a bob cut rather than Ramiel’s curtain of blue, and her nails were a metallic black as opposed to Ramiel’s crystal blue.

“... Are you bigger than me?” Ramiel muttered, furrowing her brow as she mentally compared her height to Azariel and found herself… lacking. “... That’s stupid! Why are you taller than me!? I’m like way taller than you in my full form! And I’m older than you!”

Behind the two, Yui carefully retrieved and replaced the entry plug. She then shrunk back into her smaller form. “You are... wider,” she smirks at Ramiel. “Your sister is... thinner. I chose to emphasize that trait.”

Yui examined the newly-human form of Azariel. “Yes, I would say the experiment is a success. How are you feeling, Azariel?”

“Like I have two extra limbs,” Azariel stated, blinking slowly as she flexed her AT-Field and flash-froze the LCL still coating her body, shattering the gooey liquid into frozen dust to clean herself off. “... Also like I should be wearing a maid outfit, whatever that is.”

Yui clapped her hands. “Wonderful! You might want to inquire your master about the outfit, but it looks like the rest of you is working perfectly well.” She winked at Ramiel. “Looks like my job here is done!” Waving, she dashed back into the tower.

“I really hope that favor you owe her gets solved by killing people,” Ramiel muttered, idly walking away and leaving Azariel to go find Henrietta on her own.

“... I am very much starting to dislike this family,” Azariel sighed, ignoring the students staring at her as she made her way back inside.

<>

Louise sighed, brushing Tabitha’s hair. “I’m just not sure what to do about this situation,” she complained. “I feel like I no longer recognize myself. I have these... urges. To do something younger me would never have thought of. And the proximity of my Familiar only exacerbates them.”

She put the hairbrush down. “I’m not sure what else to do, but I feel like the truth is inescapable.”

“You’re a lesbian?” Tabitha deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

“I-” Louise blinked. “There’s a _word_ for that?”

“Yes. Quite common,” Tabitha shrugged, not at all surprised at the thought of Louise being a lesbian. “Thought you knew. Harem gathering.”

“That’s an unexpected side effect I’m resolutely blaming on Ramiel,” Louise answered. “Still, to know there’s a word for when you can feel attraction to anyone, regardless of gender... Lesbian. Yes, I like this word.”

Tabitha furrowed her brow. “Wait. I misunderstood. Not lesbian. Pansexual.”

“That just makes me sound like I _really_ like kitchenware,” Louise deadpanned. She tilted her head slightly. “Does it bother you? That I am... what I am?”

“Louise is Louise. All that matters,” Tabitha murmured, sighing as she turned around and hugged Louise in a sudden display of affection. “Not bothered at all.”

Louise smiled. “I’m glad,” she murmured as she buried herself into the hug. “I’m glad.”


	27. Chapter 27

“Oh, Chibi-Louise, I forgot to mention earlier- Mother wants to see you,” Eleonore suddenly spoke up in the middle of breakfast, walking up behind Louise and pinching her ear. “She said something about testing you, so I think the most reasonable course of action at the moment would be to take a very long vacation to southern Romalia within the next few days.”

“...” Louise paused in the middle of her sentence and went pale.

A moment passed. Eleonore blinked.

“... Where did she go?”

“Disappeared,” Tabitha answered, looking just as surprised as everyone else for once. “Shadow.”

“What?”

“... Dear Louise just… vanished into her shadow,” Kirche spoke up hesitantly, still quite unsure as to how in the hell Louise had managed that. “Just… fell into it.”

“That’s one way to avoid Mother,” Eleonore spoke dryly.

Louise fell out of Ramiel’s shadow, face pale. Then she looked around. “What the fuck did I just-”

“...” Ramiel blinked, pausing her conversation about the metaphysics involved in using an AT-Field to direct and refract a positron beam across multiple dimensions with Azariel and looking down at Louise. “... Master did you just teleport? Or to be more precise, did you just slide across dimensional space using our shadows as an anchor?”

Louise scrambled upwards and hugged Ramiel. “Please please help me, Ramiel... Mother wants to test me... I daren’t face her...”

“... Hm. How odd, a problem I _can’t_ solve by annihilating everything in a three hundred kilometer radius,” Ramiel muttered, sighing as she hugged Louise and bathed her in the warmth of her soul. “There there, Master. We’ll figure this out… or, specifically, you’ll figure this out and _I_ will attempt to not turn your mother in to a blackened stain in the middle of a newly made lava pit.”

Louise let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “Y-yes... don’t do that... I have to face Mother myself... Mother who will probably be wearing her Armor... Mother who once destroyed an entire mountain with nothing but wind... Mother who is quite possibly equal in power to you... I am so dead.”

“... An entire mountain with nothing but wind…” Ramiel murmured, blinking slowly as the statement registered with her. “... Is your mother in an open relationship?”

Louise responded by punching her familiar in the stomach. “ADAM damn it! Stop lusting over Mother and help me think of a way _out_ of this!”

“Hmph!” Ramiel immediately stood up, knocking Louise to the floor and shifting into her crystal form, expanding and rippling until her full glory blotted out the sun and sent rays of cerulean light bouncing about from her reflective surfaces. 

_”DID YOU FORGET WHO I AM!?”_ she spoke, voice thundering with the authority of an angry god, echoing for miles as the air began to crackle with ozone and sing with the fury of her soul. _”I AM RAMIEL, THE SIXTH ANGEL! I AM THE DIVINE THUNDER, THE DESTROYER OF ALL THAT STANDS IN MY PATH! I AM SHE WHO ANNIHILATES MOUNTAINS ON A WHIM! NO MORTAL CAN STAND BEFORE MY MIGHT! WHO ARE YOU TO RUN FROM A THREAT LIKE A SNIVELLING COWARD!? YOU, MY MASTER, THE ONE BONDED TO MY SOUL! MY POWER IS YOURS TO COMMAND, AND YOUR WILL IS MINE TO FOLLOW! WHO ARE YOU TO RUN AWAY, WHEN I AM AT YOUR SIDE!? WHO! ARE! YOU!”_

Louise stared up at her Familiar, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. Then she rose, firming her expression. “I am Louise de la Valliere,” she said. “I am a Void Mage, the Chosen of God. You’re right, Ramiel. You’re right, and I’m sorry.” 

Her eyes began shining with an otherworldly glow. **“I am Louise,”** she declared. **“I am she who saw her magic and found it lacking. I am she who took her magic and REFORGED IT! I AM SHE WHO TOOK A LOOK AT A FUCK AND DID NOT GIVE IT!”** She began levitating, almost of her own accord. 

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!” Ramiel cheered, shrinking back down to human form and grasping Louise’s hands, a wide, manic grin on her face. “Now tell me what we’re gonna do!”

Louise grinned wildly. “We’re going _home._”

<>

Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere was standing on the doorstep of the Valliere family mansion, steeling herself. Or rather specifically, burying her emotions into her magic, shoring up her defenses, preparing to confront her Mother.

And then the door opened, presenting Cattleya with her personal maid, and Louise, tackling her older sister into an enormous hug, gave the steel up as a bad job at the moment.

“Aww, that’s cute,” Ramiel commented idly, watching Louise catch up with her sister. “... But uh.. I’m gonna assume this one isn’t your mother.”

Louise giggled. “Thank ADAM for that. I’d never dare hug Mother like that.” She took a slightly grander stance. “Ramiel, this is my sister, Cattleya de la Fontaine. Catt, that’s my Familiar, Ramiel.” She leaned in slightly towards Cattleya. “Ramiel’s a bit crass, but pay no mind to that, kay?”

The older girl, with a kitten still snoozing on her shoulder, extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ramiel. Are familiars normally this beautiful?”

“Hmmm, no, I’m one of a kind,” Ramiel preened, grinning smugly and chuckling to herself. “... Well, two of a kind, technically but Azariel isn’t anywhere near as pretty as I am.”

Louise shook her head fondly. “Catt, stop flirting with my familiar. Ramiel, stop encouraging her.”

She looked around cautiously. “Are you... alone at home, Catt?”

The older girl looked at Louise with pity. “Mother is at her study. She... said she wanted to see you as soon as you arrived.”

Louise stiffened almost immediately. “I’m... not sure I’m ready for this,” she confessed. “She...” She took a deep, shuddering breath and narrowed her eyes. “She better be _so fucking proud of me._”

“She’s wearing her armor,” said Cattleya.

Louise locked up. “That’s... That...”

“Oh goodie, canned meat,” Ramiel deadpanned, eyes glowing ominously as she stepped up behind Louise and gently rubbed her shoulder. “Still bet she can’t take one of my beams head on.”

Louise’s hand was shaking. “Ramiel. With me.” She was stalking into the depths of her manor. “I may need your AT-Field. I have _had it._”

“By your command,” Ramiel nods, following Louise and projecting her AT-Field at full force, making a shimmering wall around them and enveloping Louise in the warmth of her soul.

Louise finally stopped in front of a heavy oaken door. She took a deep breath. “Here goes.” She entered the room.

<>

Karin Desiree was seated at her desk, in full armor, fingers steepled. She raised a singular eyebrow at her daughter. “Louise. You came.” She rose. “Follow me to the training area. I will test your skill.”

“No.”

Louise briefly looked around, searching for whoever had answered, before she realized that the voice had been her own. Huh. 

Karin’s stare became piercing. “_Excuse_ me?”

Louise glared back. “I said _no,_ Mother.” She gritted her teeth. “Is _that_ how you greet your daughter? No “hello”? Not even congratulating me on finally summoning a Familiar? No acknowledgement of how I manage to get my magic to actually _do_ what I _want?_ Just a “you came, that’s nice, now fight me”?”

Karin’s wand was in her hand. “Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere, think your next words _very carefully._”

Louise’s hands clenched into fists. Her eyes flashed. “You’re a _bad mother!_”

Karin reeled back as if struck. “I _beg_ your pardon?”

Louise was shaking with rage. “I _said,_ YOU _FUCKING SUCK_ AT PARENTING! When was the last time you showed me any love! When was the last time you told me you were proud of me! WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LOOKED AT ME WITHOUT CALLING ME A _FAILURE!_” Her eyes were glowing, sounds of thunder echoing from outside. “_YOU DIDN’T EVEN RAISE ME! **CATTLEYA** RAISED ME! YOU ONLY TAUGHT ME TO **FEAR** YOU!_”

Louise grabbed Ramiel’s arm and held it tight as the pair of them were levitating above the stricken Karin. “**You want to claim otherwise? Go ahead!**” She leaned in. “**_Prove me wrong._**”

Karin gripped her wand tightly. She almost seemed to hesitate for a second, before her expression turned to steel. “Mind of iron, heart of steel - now my wrath you shall feel,” she chanted icily. “Trapped in greed, you are pinned - feel my power, HEAVY WIND!”

The first that came was the tremors. The second was the screeching, echoing _howl_ as the window behind Karin shattered, blades of vacuum cutting through the air. The third was a rolling _mass_ of pressure.

And then came the wind itself, howling, tearing, ripping and crushing at the AT-field.

Ramiel paused, tilting her head as her soul rang out from the impact, bell-like and constant, a tone that overpowered the screeching blades tearing at her AT-Field.

“... Is that all?” she asked, blinking slowly without effort. “This might tear through a building and all, but it’s hardly anywhere near enough to even damage my AT-Field.”

Karin narrowed her eyes, too engrossed in her ‘Fight Mode’ to pay attention to anything other than immediate failure. She waved her wand, silently, summoning a powerful updraft, pushing her opponents upwards and flying after them herself.

Unfortunately for Karin, Ramiel took the opportunity to grow, twisting about in space as her form became crystalline, spires and spikes erupting from dimensional space until the full octahedron shrieked into existence with such speed that Karin found herself slamming face first into Ramiel’s sapphire surface.

Louise looked down at her mother. “**I honestly, _truly,_ hoped you would do literally anything than try to fight me, Mother.**”

Karin shook herself, glaring upwards. “You gave me no choice!” she yelled. “I will _not_ be taking this insubordination lightly!”

Louise frowned. “**Insubordination,**” she growled, “**is something you would expect from _soldiers,_ not _daughters!_**”

Karin glared once again. “From darkest storms the fiercest winds,” she growled, “from cold of space the harshest vacuums - the might of steel and song of storms! From acrid planes they shall gather, from highest peaks they shall come! Heed my call - _Heavy wind!_”

As soon as Louise saw her mother beginning to chant, she immediately began her own. “**Sacred Void, the sky asunder! Fire and lightning! BRING THE THUNDER!**”

A thunderous clash slammed into existence as heavy wind and burning plasma crashed together, Ramiel dropping her AT-Field and shrinking down to hover in front of Louise, shielding her from the eruptions and explosions with her body. Light bloomed across the sky bright enough to outshine the sun, the exploding mix of wind and fire creating a burst of heat and a shockwave that almost flattened the surrounding area, causing the grass to shrivel and die for hundreds of meters in all directions.

Karin emerged from the fireball like a vicious fury, wand poised-

Louise shoved Ramiel out of the way, snarl on her lips and wand glowing-


	28. Chapter 28

_ **”STOP!!!!”** _

A massive wall of earth sprung up between mother and daughter, causing them both to look at the source of it.

Cattleya stood, leaning on her chair, fury in her eyes. “That’s _enough!_ I don’t know why you’re fighting, but I want you to _stop it!_”

“... Louise, is your sister single?” Ramiel asked almost quietly whilst floating upside down, though it ended up being loud enough to be heard by everyone. “... Now is probably a bad time to ask, isn’t it.”

Louise rubbed her forehead. “Thank you for diffusing the tension, Ramiel. Now stuff a sock in it.”

“Yes Master,” Ramiel deadpanned, flipping back rightside up and settling to the ground, shamelessly ogling both Karin and Cattleya.

Louise took a deep breath. She then let it out. She _then_ looked over at Karin. “Are _you_ done?”

“You have picked up dark magic,” Karin accused.

Louise hissed out a breath. “Okay, first off, no. Second off, _no._ That wasn’t _dark_ magic. That was _Void_ Magic.”

Karin’s eyes widened. Louise sneered. “Why yes it _does_ turn out that I wield the Sacred Void. Who’d have thunk. It’s not like Father isn’t descended from royalty or anything OH WAIT.” 

Sighing, shoulders slumping, she walked to Cattleya and buried herself into a hug. “I’m tired of all this,” she murmured. “So fucking tired.”

“Maybe we should get the harem and go on a vacation somewhere,” Ramiel spoke up, idly poking through the ruins of the study and humming as she prodded a halfway burnt book. “Maybe we shoulda fought outside. Oh well, none of this is my stuff so who cares?”

“Take it up with Karin de Maillart,” Louise mumbled from the hug. “Too busy with hug to care.”

Behind her, Karin winced. “I fucked up, didn’t I,” she whispered.

“Well, let’s see,” Ramiel spoke up, whirling around and facing Karin, shifting violently as crystals bloomed out of the air around her human form, shining and twirling in and out of existence in response to her agitation. “You _attacked your child_ within mere minutes of her returning home, you’ve terrified her to the point where she wanted nothing more to run away from the mere mention of your name, you made her so scared, so desperate to be away from you that she sought comfort in the arms of _me_, a walking, sentient weapon of mass destruction over _you._ I am an alien being who’s only recently discovered free will and emotion, and even _my_ progenitor was a better parent than you, and the only thing ADAM ever did was give me my soul and birth me into existence before abandoning me for the rest of my life. So yes, Karin de Maillart, you. Fucked. Up.”

Karin stared, gaze empty. “I.. should go.” She turned. “I can’t fix this on my own.”

“It’d be easier to leave and never come back,” Ramiel almost hissed, eyes glowing as she scowled at Karin’s back. “Fixing this’ll probably take more years than you have left, mortal.”

“I don’t trust you,” said Karin. “But I can recognize that you are better for Louise than I am capable of expressing.” She started walking away. “Good luck, Void Familiar.”

A Manticore bounded up to the woman, allowing her to mount it, and with a powerful flap of its leathery wings.

Karin the Heavy Wind had exited Louise’s life.

For the time being.

<>

An awkward state of being descended over the Valliere household in the next few days. Karin had vanished, a chunk of the estate had been destroyed, and Louise…

Louise spent almost all of her time in the arms of Cattleya, seeking comfort from the one family member who never hurt her.

Cattleya was lightly stroking Louise’s hair. “So, little sister, what wonders have you accomplished while away from home?”

Louise shrugged minutely. “I summoned my Familiar - you’ve met her, accidentally modified the familiar summoning spell so that it can summon only Ramiel’s species, somehow ended up gathering an ever-expanding harem... frankly my life has been rather ridiculous lately.”

Cattleya hummed. “You know, Mother never let me summon a familiar,” she mentioned idly. “She said there was a chance I would be too weak to handle one.”

Louise locked eyes with Ramiel. She raised a challenging eyebrow.

“She’ll be fiiiiine,” Ramiel drawled, rolling her eyes and motioning at the rock wall Cattleya had managed to bring up earlier. “If she can make _that_ she can summon a familiar just fine.”

“I was more concerned about what your siblings were like,” Louise said dryly. “I was also wondering if I could give her _my_ spell to use if you didn’t figure that one out already.”

“Fuck if I know,” Ramiel shrugged, not at all concerned with much of anything. “But as long as your sister doesn’t summon Armisael they’ll probably be fine.”

Louise turned, grinning. “Hey Catt? How would you like an actual Messenger of God as your Familiar? I have the Void so I can allow it~”

Cattleya giggled. “Oh, Louise, you don’t have to sweeten any deals for me. You had me at ‘Familiar’!”

Louise hopped onto her feet, eyes sparkling. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s do it!”

<>

“My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from the very bottom of my heart - add to my guidance and appear!”

Cattleya waved her wand calmly and methodically, pouring her not inconsiderate amount of power into the spell. Mist flashed through the air, the ground trembled, light poured out like almost a second sun as a portal formed and crackled, pouring out a substance almost like blood before a sphere appeared, cracked, dented, pitted, almost destroyed but still _whole_ enough to be alive, if only barely.

Ramiel gaped, jaw dropped and eyes wide as she took an involuntary step back. “... Only _one_ bitch could have done this to my lil sis… But… _how_!? Yui’s already here! How did she manage to almost kill Zeruel across dimensions!?”

In a flash, and despite the weakness of her body, Cattleya was at the sphere’s side, water magic flaring to life and working at healing its wounds. “You poor thing,” she whispered, pouring healing magic into the thing. “You are safe now, with me... as my blessed Familiar.” She pressed her lips on the sphere.

As soon as her lips made contact, the sphere erupted into a fountain of blood that arced through the air, swirling and solidifying into the form of a mountainous woman, inhuman in proportions with gray skin and a mummy-like arrangement for a head. It shrieked out a wordless, soundless cry, writhing about before it erupted into a fountain of blood once more, leaving only a wrapped up, oblong shaped _thing_ floating ominously in the sky, and a very naked girl lying unconscious on the floor, with the remains of a giant yellow robot strewn around the area.

“.... Awww…. Gross….” Ramiel sighed, shaking the worst of the blood off of herself and shouting up at Zeruel. “OI! LIL SIS! SMALL FORM! GO SMALL!”

_A C K N O W L E D G E_

Zeruel bellowed out, warping and spasming as it shrunk down until it’s mummy-like form was no taller than Cattleya herself, eyes shining as it took in its surroundings.

_C U R I O S I T Y_

“Welcome to Tristain, lil sis. Good to see you again,” Ramiel smiled, walking up to Zeruel and giving it a bloodstained hug, much to Zeruel’s visible disgust. “Yeah yeah, keep squirming you disgusting rag pile. It’s your fault I’m covered in all this gunk in the first place.”

_D I S G U S T_

“Next time try and control your blood better, then,” Ramiel huffed, rolling her eyes. “Oh yeah, this is Louise, my Master, and her older sister Cattleya, your new Master.”

_C O N F U S I O N_

“Yeah the lilim form is a thing that bitch in purple gave me. She’s _really_ hot so I call dibs as your older sister and the one that got killed first.”

_B I T C H_

“Eat my ass you skeletal parade float. You know dibs is law. Buuuut… I’m totally willing to share.”

_N I C E_

“Hell yeah it is,” Ramiel smirked, finally letting go of Zeruel after giving its skull-like head a quick noogie. “Good to see you again.”

Louise sighed, slashing her wand downwards in an odd sort of a targeted explosion that seared off all of the blood and the outer layer of her clothes. “So what’s the deal with all those parts?” She stalked towards the unconscious girl, kneeling next to her. “And what’s the deal with _her?_”

_C O N S U M E_

Zeruel spoke up, stating that it had consumed the evangelion and taken on the form of its pilot as part of an intimidation tactic and to breach the final layer of defenses in the lilim base it had assaulted in its pursuit of finding ADAM. Hence the giant naked gray woman form it had taken on for a few moments before violently ejecting the remains.

“That _is_ gross,” Louise spoke absentmindedly, turning the injured girl over to get a better look on her face. “Wait, isn’t this-?”

She blinked for a second. “Ramiel, come over here for a moment. Is it just me, or does she look just like...?”

“Yeah she looks like me… and that bitch, Yui. Not quite as hot, though… maybe it’s because her boobs are smaller… or it’s because she’s a Lilith clone. Man, what a bitch, that Lilith. No sense of aesthetics,” Ramiel muttered, tapping her chin and kneeling down. “... What did Yui say her name was? Rei? I think that’s her name.”

“Clearly not the same one who tormented Tabby,” Louise murmured. “Then again, clone.” She stood up, hoisting the girl in a bridal carry, and doing so with little ease. “Let’s get her to a bedroom. After that, we’ll gather Catt and Zeruel, and we’ll _talk._”


	29. Chapter 29

“Okay.” Louise was pacing around in the secondary study. Cattleya and her familiar were seated on a sofa. Ramiel was just hovering.

“There are inconsistencies,” she finally said, stopping. “_Severe_ ones. This is the second time we have met an Angel that Yui Ikari claims to have killed.” She resumed pacing, gesticulating animatedly. “Now, the obvious solution is that Yui is simply lying. She’s not exactly a trustworthy person. But I don’t quite think that’s what’s going on here.” 

Louise started listing off. “One. Tabris. Cryptic asshole, sure. More than he seems, absolutely. Killed by Yui? Entirely possible.” She rubbed her chin. “Ramiel, you mentioned something about dimensional shenanigans?”

“Mhmm. Multiple timelines, five dimensional space. It’s entirely possible that Yui is a different version of the one that _almost_ killed us. Honestly if you want timeline shit you’ll have to find someone to summon Leliel because _that_ lil bitch is the one who knows the most about shifting things across multiple dimensions.” Ramiel shrugged, idly letting crystalline bits shift through the air, forming impossible geometries that refracted over and over into fractal configurations. “Tabris is the only one of us who decided that multidimensional hivemind-ing was a valid strategy as opposed to just shoving excess energy and mass between dimensions where physics no longer apply. Honestly, I’m starting to think that maybe that cryptic shithead had the right idea.”

Louise paused. “Right. Thanks. You just derailed my entire lecture.” She huffed. “Right. Yui is from a different dimensional space. Who else?”

“Uhhhh…. Probably that Sheffield bitch Tabby mentioned. Y’know, the blue haired lady that traumatized her. And also probably whoever that unknown fucker is with the Pope,” Ramiel answered, humming idly and flopping down on the couch next to Zeruel, who was once again wrapped up and leaning at an angle that made it look more like an inanimate object than an angel. “And uhhhhh… that’s about it, I think.”

Louise took a deep breath. “Right. Right. Zeruel? Can you tell us what exactly happened to you? It’s obvious that you weren’t eaten, so what did happen?”

_E X P L O D E D_

Zeruel answered without moving, stating that before it died, it’d been blown up, thrown around, and lasered a few times before the giant purple hottie had basically violated its soul to try and pull out the girl inside its core. Unfortunately for the alternate Yui and her pilot, it had been pulled through before its core could actually shatter from the rough handling. Hooray.

Louise winced. “Yeowch.”

Cattleya pulled her Familiar into a hug. “It’s going to be okay, sweetie. I’ll protect you.”

_J O Y_

Zeruel made the closest equivalent it could to a blush, wiggling gently in Cattleya’s grip and letting out a keening whine as its head visibly steamed.

“Aww, how cute,” Ramiel giggled, joining in on the hug just to watch Zeruel squirm.

Louise smiled fondly. “Your family is... so much nicer than mine, Ramiel.”

“Well y’know, that’s what happens when you’re left to develop on your own without any expectations other than ‘find the corpse of the progenitor and either move the life seed to another planet for terraforming or kick Lilith’s pale, flabby ass and all her progeny off and re-colonize the dead world’. Pretty easy life, all things considered. None of that politics bullshit when there’s only like sixteen of your entire species on the planet.” Ramiel shrugged, not really concerned about what her statement sounded like. 

Louise blinked. “The sad thing is, even with context, it still sounds like a better deal than growing up with Karin.”

“Well, yeah. We got phenomenal cosmic power and all we ever had to do was blow shit up for shits n’ giggles. You had to deal with… well, that bitch,” Ramiel muttered, standing up and crossing the room to envelop Louise in a warm hug. 

Louise hugged back. “And then I met you. And now my family is all the bigger for it.”

<>

A few days later, after sealing up the remains of the study so the weather wouldn’t ruin the destroyed room even more, and making sure that the unknown Rei was well-cared for, Louise returned to the academy, Cattleya and Zeruel in tow.

They were greeted by the unlikely trio of Eleonore, Yui and Tabitha. How Tabitha managed to put up with either of them, Louise had no idea. Nor had she any clue how Eleonore managed to put up with Yui. So she asked. 

"How the hell are you three getting along?" 

Tabitha facepalmed. "Babysitting," she explained, somehow managing to project _very clearly_ that _she_ was the one doing the babysitting. 

Ignoring Yui's and Eleonore's affronted expressions (and Cattleya's amused one) Louise plowed on. "That explains _you._ It doesn't explain _them._"

"_Science,_" Tabitha drawled, emoting _exactly_ what she thought of Eleonore and Yui doing Science together. 

Louise glanced at the pair. "That _is_ a terrifying thought," she agreed. "Big sis, I'm forbidding you to fraternize with the Ikari. Yui, stay away from my family." 

Eleonore snorted. "Oh come now, Chibi-Louise. You don't get to dictate who I spend my time with; who do you think you are, _Mother?_" 

"Eleonore!" scolded Cattleya. 

Louise narrowed her eyes. "I am _nothing_ like Mother," she hissed. "In fact, I'm _so little_ like Mother that I actually see my family as _family,_ not _soldiers._" She leaned up into her older sister's face. "So, as family, I respect your decisions in picking your associates, but warn you that Yui Ikari is a murderer. Kay?" 

Eleonore raised an eyebrow. "And _who_ did she murder, may I ask?" 

Louise glared impassively. "The majority of my Familiar's family, for one," she said. "I'm sure there are other skeletons in there too. I wouldn't be surprised." 

“Surprisingly, no. I may be a megalomaniac but I only killed the angels. I think. I did accidentally break someone’s neck but I don’t recall him actually dying from that… and in my defense, he did ask me to sit on his face,” Yui blushed and coughed into her hand. “And furthermore, I only killed the angels because they were trying to destroy the world.”

“Only because you Lilith-spawn stole the planet from ADAM and my kind,” Ramiel muttered, grumbling under her breath and crossing her arms. “You lot weren’t even supposed to land on Earth. You were supposed to hit _Mars_. How was your progenitor so incompetent that she missed an entire fucking planet?”

"I don't know," sniped Yui. "Perhaps you could ask her yourself? I'm sure at least _one_ Rei out there has her memories..."

_B I T C H_

Zeruel let out a low droning noise, grumbling quietly as it hovered ominously behind Cattleya in its wrapped up oblong form.

“Mhmm. Aaaanyway, ignoring the fact that you definitely killed the vast majority of my race in another timeline than the one I came from, I need you to hook Zeruel here up with some titties. And speaking of Rei…” Ramiel idly pointed over her shoulder, where the formerly unconscious and now very awkward looking Rei stood silently, barely reacting save for a hesitant wave towards Yui. “Zeruel spit one up when she got here. What do we do with the clonelet?”

Yui Ikari tilted her head. Then her eyes began _sparkling_ as she almost hungrily circled the Rei. "I could always use a lab assistant," she mused. "Yes, yes, this could work out rather well. What do _you_ think, Rei?" 

The bluenette tilted her head slightly. "Are you the one my name comes from?" 

Yui blinked. "If you mean that my old wishes - if I have a son he'll be named Shinji and if I have a daughter she'll be named Rei - then yes, I suppose I am. Why?" 

Rei shook her head. "This... is news to me. Was your name not Ayanami Yui before you married the Commander?" 

Yui snorted. "Oh sweet summer child... No, you're confusing me with a different Yui. I have always been Yui Ikari. The man who took _my_ name was Gendo." She grinned. "Rokobungi." 

Throwing an arm across Rei's shoulders and hugging the startled girl to her side, Yui turned to Zeruel. "And what have we _here?_" 

_Z E R U E L_

Zeruel made almost a deadpan statement, wondering if Yui had already forgotten its name since Ramiel introduced it to her mere moments ago. It also idly wondered what Ramiel meant by titties, since it was in no real mood to consume Rei again now that it really didn’t have a stronghold to creep the shit out of and/or destroy.

Yui hummed. "I've refined my technique," she stated. "Based on the admittedly meagre two samples, I've made metaphorical leaps and bounds." She smiled. "Show me your Core, Zeruel." 

_H E S I T A T I O N_

Without a single moment of hesitation, Zeruel slammed its riblike structures over its core, sealing it behind its fleshy folds and nearly impenetrable bones as it wondered exactly what Yui was planning on doing. Ramiel just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Just do it you titanic baby,” Ramiel sighed, rubbing her forehead and prodding Zeruel’s AT-Field with her own until the other angel finally unwrapped itself and exposed its core. “If she hurts you I’ll just blast her into the ground and you can tear her to shreds and then blast her to ash.”

"I'm as strong as you," Yui noted, "so your proposal doesn't hold much weight, Ramiel." Her hand began glowing with an eerie orange light. "Hold still, Angel of Might." She placed her palm on Zeruel's Core. 

With a mighty shriek and a flash of light, Zeruel _exploded_, creating a pillar of heat and plasma that shot off into the heavens and erupted into a cross shape that out-shone the sun. Within the beam, Zeruel writhed as its flesh bubbled and shrank, shifting and squirming inwards until all that remained as the pillar died away was a humanoid form, naked as usual. Unlike Azariel and Ramiel, Zeruel’s skin was a dusky bronze, her hair pre-styled into several long braids of black streaked with silver, and her nails colored a stark bone gray. Other than the skin tone change and her core being directly between her breasts as opposed to between her collarbones like Ramiel or over her belly button like Azariel, she looked… exactly like all the others. What a surprise. 

Yui withdrew her hand, looking pleased. "How do you feel, Angel of Might?" 

“Naked,” Zeruel deadpanned, looking down at herself, and then at the scorched circle at her feet. “.... Cold.”

“.... She’s _also_ taller than me. Why are both of my siblings taller than me!? I’m the oldest one here!” Ramiel hissed, clenching her fists angrily and puffing out her cheeks. “I’m the largest one too! So why aren’t I the tallest!?”

Yui giggled. Even Rei cracked a hesitant smile. Louise rolled her eyes. "I think it's for matching issues," she offered. "Catt and the Princess are both taller than me, you know." 

Ramiel crossed her arms and sulked.


	30. Chapter 30

_”Ayanami….. GIVE HER BACK!”_

**200%**

Thunder shook the sky, red as blood.

Earthquakes shattered the ground, crushed beneath a colossal boot.

Evangelion Unit-01 reawoke and became as a vengeful god.

It roared, shrieked, and in its howling rage, a young boy gave into his hatred, his desperation, his love, and threw the abomination against life away from him with an almighty _push_.

A halo formed above its head as it stepped forth, a godly symbol twisting and spinning, a visible representation of the power his determination had given him.

“Stop, Shinji! You won’t be able to become human again!”

A feeble voice, shouted from so far away.

He ignored it. He couldn’t stop, not when _she_ was gone. Not when the _monster_ that stole her soul was still in front of him, on the ground, all but begging to be destroyed.

_”I don’t care about what happens to me… I don’t care about what happens to the world! But Ayanami…. I’ll definitely save her!”_

**300%**

Twin beams of light arced across the field, tearing through AT-Field and hyper-dense bone like paper. It stood no chance.

A cross shaped explosion blasted into the sky following the arc of his eyebeams, a thunderous roar following a shockwave that flattened the area around him.

“Do it Shinji! This isn’t for anyone else! This is for the sake of your own wishes!”

He complied, and as the creature, the pitiable, horrid thing before him struggled against the damage it took, he _slammed_ his fist down, crushing its ugly skull beneath his fist.

The core. 

He saw the core, and knew what he had to do.

**400%**

_”AYANAMI! WHERE ARE YOU!?”_ he shouted, projecting his soul into the beast’s heart, groping around blindly to breach the barrier that didn’t exist.

_”It’s no use. I’m no longer able to live anywhere but here.”_

Her voice.

Her voice!

He shouted, struggled against the dark interior of the plug, a vivid burst of light tunneling around him until he saw the darkened sea below, separated only by the thinnest of walls.

He could hear her, hear the defeat in her voice.

No! No!

He reached out, struggling ever harder, going ever deeper. The swirl of lights became more and more intense the further he went.

_”It’s okay… even if I die, I’ll be replaced.”_

No no no no no!

He couldn’t, he _wouldn’t_ let that happen!

_”YOU’RE WRONG! THERE’S NO OTHER AYANAMI BUT YOU! THAT’S WHY I’LL SAVE YOU NOW!”_

Above, the halo _burned_. Bloody red, it swirled outwards into a blackened hole in reality, a red tinted portal to another realm. The Evangelion’s armor burst apart, revealing its core. The earth shattered, and the two, beast and monster, began to float into the air.

Shinji ignored it, focused only on the goal before him. The barrier in his way, the wall that separated him. He couldn’t stop, he wouldn’t! Nothing would stop him!

It hurt, agonizingly so, but eventually, focused on the snow white form of Ayanami below, the barrier gave way, and he reached out.

_”AYANAMIi! TAKE MY HAND!”_

**500%**

She looked up.

She hesitated for but a brief moment.

And she reached out…

Only to disappear in a flash of green, along with the core of the abomination that held her captive.

_”NO! NO NO NO NO NO! AYANAMI!”_

He howled, desperation in his voice as he blindly looked about. She was gone. Just when he was about to save her, she was _gone again!_

The creature’s body burst into blood that haloed around him, the floating form of Unit-01 looking around wildly as it ascended higher and higher.

_“AYANAMI!”_

He couldn’t believe it.

He couldn’t… he didn’t save her.

No- he could have saved her… but something stole her from him!

His will hardened, sheathed in rage. The tears in his eyes stung, hot and heavy as they dissipated into the LCL of the plug. Unit-01 cried as well, tears of burning blood accompanying its demonic shrieks of rage that echoed with his soul.

He couldn’t feel his own body anymore, not that he cared.

The only thing that mattered was finding Ayanami, getting her back from whatever stole her away!

He would save her, or the world would die trying!

Above him, the red portal flashed green for the briefest of moments, and the earth began to quake as Unit-01 drew upon more and more power.

_“AYANAMI! I’LL SAVE YOU, NO MATTER THE COST!”_

**999%**

The world flashed white around him, a deafening roar that washed out all other noise, a glaring light that blinded him with its intensity.

The world vanished, and all that was left was darkness and crushing pressure.

And Shinji felt nothing but oblivion.

<>

“Hey, uncle?” the young maiden spoke, gazing out over the desert sands curiously, as if they held the secrets of the universe itself. “Did you feel that tremor last night?”

“I did, Luctiana,” Bidashal answered, rubbing his chin as he felt the currents of magic. The spirits seemed agitated today, possibly because of whatever caused the tremor. He could feel something… odd… out in the wastes, just a few kilometers out. “... Perhaps we should send a scouting party out.”

A few hours later, Bidashal trembled slightly in his cloak, despite the desert heat. The wrongness was _intense_, an animalistic fear felt only when facing a much, much larger predator.

The men and women with him felt it as well, though they continued digging despite their trepidation- after all, a discovery was a discovery, even if they were afraid of it.

“Sir! There’s something you should see!” one of the workers- Misha- called out, ushering Bidashal over to the hushed circle of workers that surrounded something that looked like a gargantuan purple head, still half buried in the sand and yet still dwarfing all but the largest of buildings in the oasis.

A spike of cold fear ran down Bidashal’s spine.

This was not a predator.

This was a god in metal form.

A Beast’s Raiment.

“... I must go,” he muttered faintly, spinning on his heel and rushing back to write a _very_ urgent letter.

Joseph would want to hear of this.

<>

“... Something feels weird,” Yui muttered, scratching her chin idly as she looked out the window of the academy, facing directly south and staring out into the distance. “... Why do I feel like I can sense something in the south?”

“... Probably because something with an AT-Field just popped up out of nowhere,” Ramiel deadpanned, walking up behind Yui and staring out the window as well. “... It almost feels like you… but tinged with a little bit more desperation and depression.”

“... The hottie,” Zeruel murmured, rising up from outside of the window and settling on the windowsill with a contemplative look on her face. “The one that almost killed me…”

Ramiel paused, then blinked.

“It _is_ her,” she breathed out, immediately blushing bright red.

“Dibs.” Zeruel spoke up, voice echoing with divine authority.

“Fuck!”


	31. Chapter 31

“So uhhhh… what are we gonna do about it?” Ramiel asked idly, poking Yui’s still form with a single finger until the scientist awoke and smacked her hand away. “Also… two hotties… twins, even… Mmm… well, that’s just _tempting_.”

“I am willing to share,” Zeruel nodded, humming quietly as she thought to herself and tilted her head. “Provided that you will share as well.”

“... Could you kindly not act as though I’m in a relationship with you already,” Yui deadpanned, sighing and pushing Ramiel away, rubbing the bridge of her nose and groaning. “Great, this is gonna make Gendo even _more_ desperate. Christ.”

“...Why don’t you just write him a letter?” Eleonore asked, eyebrow raised. “Explain things, actually _talk_ to each other? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Yui looked at her like she had grown a second head. “Then what’s the point of constructing elaborate world-ending Scenarios?”

Eleonore opened her mouth. She then closed her mouth. “Are they _all_ like that, Chibi-Louise?” she asked incredulously.

“From the two examples I’ve seen,” Louise snarked, “yes. Yes they are.”

“Humans are so strange,” Ramiel murmured to Zeruel, receiving a nod in return. “I mean, we have our fair share of what humans would call neuroses but none of us ever actually made megalomaniacal plans for world destruction. Actually, I don’t think any of us really ever made a plan in our lives.”

“... I made a plan,” Zeruel protested lightly.

“.... Your plan was ‘blast it with lasers and stab it until it works’, lil sis. Which, might I remind you, was directly copied off of _my_ plan.”

“And even then it _didn’t_ work,” Yui reminded them. “The Lilim made a better plan, and you got your asses handed to you.”

“Meh. If we were actually trying none of you Lilim would even be around right now,” Ramiel sniped back, huffing and rolling her eyes. “Ever wondered why I didn’t just blow off your damn head, or why Zeruel didn’t just decapitate the other Lilith robot things? ...Okay well I can’t speak for some of our siblings but me n’ Zeruel were definitely just fucking around.”

“And that fucking around cost you dearly,” Yui sniped back. “Thus, by your own admission, you screwed yourselves over.”

“You wanna go bitch?” Ramiel growled, eyes flashing as she prepared to throw hands. “I’ll fucking burn your tits off!”

Raising a sardonic eyebrow, Yui manifested an almost _colossally_ strong AT-Field, shaping it into brilliant orange wings and a Lance of Longinus. “Are you _certain_ you want to do that?”

“...” Ramiel narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips as she manifested her own AT-Field at full power, slamming it against Yui’s with a loud clang, the field only strengthened by her sheer willpower and/or hubris. “Try me, cuntbag.”

Smirking, Yui let her AT-Lance dissolve and _shoved,_ pressing Ramiel against the wall and leaning in. “For all your hubris,” she said in a husky tone, “You’d never be able to defeat me and you know it.” She leaned even further in, hot breath tickling the Angel’s ear. “Your attraction to power is simply too _great._”

Abruptly, Yui ceased the assault with her AT-field, and sauntered away. “Look me up later, Angel of Thunder.”

“..... Shit. I need to change my underwear again,” Ramiel hissed, flushed brilliant red and quivering in place as she fanned herself with one hand. “Fuck, that was _really_ hot…”

“.... I wish you hadn’t called dibs,” Zeruel deadpanned, looking quite flushed as well. “We could have taken her.”

“No,” Louise groaned over Cattleya’s hysterical giggles, head buried in her hands, “You really couldn’t have.”

<>

“My Vindalfr, I know you prefer your plans to be inscrutable and suitably vague and conspiracy-like… but do you really need to go through all this trouble to see your wife again when we already know exactly where she currently resides? Could you not just… take a carriage and go see her?” Vittorio asked, furrowing his brow in confusion as he idly browsed through Gendo’s “public” journal, scratching his head and wondering just what it was about his familiar that made him obsessed with making shady plans that may or may not actually cause mass political upheaval and/or world destruction just for the sake of doing simple things.

By Brimir, the man had a twelve step plan for going to the market that involved no less than six different ways to cause political incidents with at least two other countries in the span of less than an hour and a half!

Though, thankfully, that one was a joke.

He hoped.

“If I send a letter, Yui will get mad that I’ve taken the fun out of her megalomaniacal and even more overcomplicated plans. Thus, as long as we both continue to make horrifically complex and world ending plans while slowly working ever closer to our inevitable reunion, our second honeymoon will be the most mindblowing sex either of us will have ever had, instead of me losing my ability to produce children due to disappointing my megalomanical and quite literally nearly divine wife,” Gendo explained, as if that actually answered Vittorio’s questions.

Which, sort of, but it raised many, _many_ uncomfortable thoughts about the nature of Gendo’s sex life that Vittorio _really_ did not want to entertain.

Taking a bracing breath, Vittorio shut the journal with a snap and plastered on a fake smile to hide his internal anguish. “Very well then. Continue with your plotting, then. Oh, and, if you have time today, could you look over the Church’s finances? I have a sneaking suspicion that Cardinal Salvatore is skimming off the top.”

“He’s embezzling funds for drug fueled orgies once a month,” Gendo deadpanned, tossing over a sealed folder full of evidence and financial reports. “Do with that what you will.”

“... Alright then,” Vittorio blinked, sighed again, rubbed his forehead, and left Gendo alone in his picturesque office that overlooked the beautiful skyline of Romalia which was far better than the dusty, windowless, nearly pitch black office that Gendo had originally wanted, no matter _what_ the inscrutable, insufferable man said. Working in pitch darkness was not good for the eyes, back, or soul. Having a warm, temperate breeze and natural light was.

<>

“Sheffield,” Joseph rumbled, stroking his short beard thoughtfully and trying to pretend that his servant hadn’t just walked in on him blowing his nose on the hem of an old robe.

“Joseph,” Sheffield deadpanned, rolling her eyes at her incompetent buffoon of a Master. 

“What is it you have for me, Sheffield?” Joseph asked, eyeing the scroll in her hands.

“A message. From the elf. You should see it,” Sheffield handed over the scroll, stepping back and wrinkling her nose in disgust the moment Joseph turned away to read the scroll. What a horrid man.

After barely a few minutes, Joseph leapt out of his chair and threw the scroll aside, turning and pointing at Sheffield dramatically. “Sheffield! Prepare a chariot immediately! We’re going to the Holy Land!”

“... Yes Master,” Sheffield sighed, walking out the door to begin preparations for their journey.

Ugh. What a horrid little man.


	32. Chapter 32

The first indication that something was coming was the thunder. Dark clouds were gathering above the Academy towers. Lightning was flashing. A dark shape was moving within.

And then it arrived. Descending from the clouds as a wrath of god, crackles of energy trailing behind it, the battered airship alighted itself on the front lawn. A small shape hopped off the railing and marched into the tower.

Higher and higher up the stairs they ascended, trailed by whispers of curious and startled students.

“Is that...?”

“Can’t be...?”

“Are we in danger?”

“Should we run?”

The person reached the top, stopping at the door to the Headmaster’s office. Then they kicked the door open.

_”Mathilda de Saxe-Gotha!”_

Ms Longueville looked up. “Oh shit.”

Tiffania Westwood, ears proudly on display, stood at the entryway, hands on her hips and glaring with all her might. “_No letters!_ Not even a _hint_ of what you’ve been up to! _It’s been six months, Mathilda!_ I thought you were dead! At least seriously injured! No! You’re playing _secretary_ to some dirty old man! Does your sister mean _nothing_ to you anymore! _Get back here!_”

Mathilda, who had been in the process of sinking into the floor, looked up. “Ohfuck.” Deciding on continuing her tactical retreat, she dropped through the floor entirely. “Don’tmindmegottago!” She dashed out of the door.

Louise looked up at the ceiling, then at the open door, and finally raised her eyebrows. “Do I want to know?”

“Probably not. Oh hey Tabris. Nice to see you’re alive,” Ramiel deadpanned at the silver haired figure lying face down on the floor before her feet, rolling her eyes at the lack of response. “I _said_ nice to see you alive, you corpse-faced dipshit.”

“Mrngle.” Kaworu responded, speaking the language of all sleep deprived and exhausted people everywhere as he all but begged for another five minutes to rest.

“Ah, Tabris,” came the amused voice of Yui Ikari. “Tell me. Which version of my son did you fuck?”

“Unfortunately,” Kaworu grumbled pushing himself off the ground and rubbing the bags under his eyes. “Despite the infinite breadth of the intricate threads that make up spacetime, in every relevant timeline your son remains sorely virginal. Or, to make it shorter, I have never fucked any version of Shinji Ikari because _someone or something_ keeps cockblocking me.”

Yui grinned. “Thank you, I’ll be here all day.” She steepled her fingers. “Although for your information, I, personally, am a _great-grandmother._ Make of that information what you will.”

“.... Piss.” was Kaworu’s only reply, sighing as he trudged over to the nearest pillar, walked behind it and-

Summarily dragged out two students who had been stealthily making out behind the pillar. And _then_ he walked behind the pillar and vanished off to somewhere else. Probably somewhere he could take a nap.

“Haha, oh yeah, Tabris got cucked,” Ramiel snickered, quite amused by the sight of Tabris looking less than immaculate. 

Louise sighed. “So Tabris is here now. Which means that Tiffania is here. Which _probably_ also means that there’s a ton of orphans hanging around. Who wants to bet Ms Longueville tearing out of here like the hounds of hell were after her was a connected event too?”

“Tiffy did say something about letters, not writing, and a sister,” Ramiel pointed out idly, shrugging her shoulders and drifting away. “Aaaanyway, I’m going to the kitchen. Siesta said today they’re making croquembouche, whatever that is, and I wanna eat it.”

Louise tilted her head. “You _eat?_”

“Well, yeah? I’ve _been_ eating… mostly when you’re in class or whatever but yeah?” Ramiel tilted her head curiously and stared at Louise with a raised eyebrow. “What, did you just think I wouldn’t try to eat stuff now that I have a mouth?”

Louise shrugged. “I suppose I assumed you mainly used your mouth for smartass comments. Or perverted purposes.”

“Well yes, but also to stuff delicious food into my new stomach,” Ramiel shot back, grinning wide as she floated away. “Anyway byyyyye~”

“Bye,” sighed Louise. She then looked over to Yui. “Anyway, back to our topic on AT-Field mechanics...”

<>

Azariel idly swiped a cloth over the antique clock sitting in Henrietta’s private chambers. She was fully aware that, technically speaking, she didn’t have to be a maid, but she abhorred the mess that seemed to always be _somewhere_ in the palace.

Abhor. Now that was a new word.

Azariel took a moment to admire her reflection in the polished surface of the clock face. Admire, something she couldn’t have done before. The gift of free will, she decided, was quite something. She didn’t have words for it yet, but it was definitely something. And that something was worth the fact that she couldn’t just tear stuff up on a whim anymore given that her new Master was royalty.

Still, at least that strange woman had the decency to make her attractive, albeit she would have liked the choice to choose her hair and nail color. The mask that popped up on her face was nice, though, albeit it ruined her new aesthetic quite thoroughly whenever she wore it.

Oh sure, she had to put it on whenever she transformed, but that was different. 

Azariel paused, gave the clock one last once-over to make sure it was completely clean, then moved onto the rest of the room. Her brow furrowed as her train of thought changed directions and she idly ran a hand over the smooth silks of her uniform. Of all the things that made being humanoid and having free will almost not worth it, it was the fact that if she didn’t keep a tight lid on the speed of her transformation and the way she refracted her mass through dimensions, she’d blow off all her clothes every time she transformed.

Which, while not terrible, was horribly inconvenient, especially for the actual cleaning, laundering, and tailoring staff.

Azariel had no wish to draw their ire.

One did not know true fear until they had been threatened by an elderly woman wielding a sandal and a rolling pin.

Azariel shuddered, suppressing the memory and burying it under thousands of calculations as she sensed out the position of every body of water within a sixty kilometer radius and subtly flexed her AT-Field to freeze ice cubes into the glass of water on Henrietta’s desk. In her study. Six rooms over and three floors down.

She sighed, tapping her foot on the floor and humming to herself as she began systematically spreading ice on the floor to freeze and shatter, collecting the dust there and manipulating the frozen powder to float out the window and leave the floor clean and spotless.

Yes, Azariel may not have really needed to be a maid, but it sure was damn satisfying to see a clean and organized room.

She smiled, dusting off her hands and primly heading out the door, ignoring the fact that she’d just dumped six gallons of dirty water out the window and onto the nobleman that Henrietta had been complaining about the other day.

Fuck that guy.


	33. Chapter 33

“Blast this desert air! How in the world do the elves live out here like this?” Joseph grumbled for the umpteenth time, fanning himself as he continued sweating through his heavy, overly decorated clothing. 

Sheffield, who had actually dressed for the occasion, just rolled her eyes and continued directing the chariot she’d procured through the sands, refreshing an ice spell to keep Joseph from passing out from heat stroke and wishing just for once she’d gotten an actually _useful_ Master. Like Gendo. Or Shinji. 

Scratch that, Shinji wasn’t much use unless he was in an Eva but at least he wouldn’t complain and would actually listen to her when she said to do things.

"Perhaps they have adapted to the heat and wear _appropriate_ clothing?" Sheffield snarked. "Just food for thought, Master." She shielded her eyes, looking into the distance. "We should be getting close." 

"Oh goody," grumbled the useless man, choosing to ignore his familiar's smartass comment. "I'm just about dying here." 

Sheffield privately entertained the idea of actually letting him die in the heat. She could absolutely play it off as a tragic accident. Nobody could mind, either, and his usefulness was rapidly drying up too. Even, heh, even _the doll_ would be happy. Sheffield suppressed a smirk at the dramatic irony. 

Unfortunately for Sheffield’s plans of regicide, the two of them arrived at the oasis far too soon, Joseph drenched in sweat from the heat despite Sheffield blasting him constantly with cool air, and Sheffield sporting the beginnings of a healthy tan because she actually dressed for the weather and did her research.

Bidashal stood there, rolling his eyes at Joseph’s appearance. “Finally. Come, this way. We’ve relocated the golem to the outskirts of the oasis.”

Sheffield narrowed her eyes. _...Golem?_ Joseph hadn't actually told her why they were there, the infuriating man. She followed the elf (and Joseph) as they were walking towards the site, talking in low voices. Activating an artefact, she listened in. 

"...the Raiment has sustained some damage," Bidashal said, "but aside from that..." 

Sheffield tuned them out. Raiment? That made no sense. She knew perfectly well that Yui Ikari was residing somewhere in Tristain. Had another Evangelion showed up? She knew that artefacts related to the Seeds and Project Eva had been popping up in Halkeginia for ages. Had Niigoki arrived in the Elven Lands? Gods, she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with Asuka again, but she supposed the German pilot would be preferable to spending more time with Joseph again... 

They crested a dune, and Sheffield got her first look at the new Raiment. 

....What the fuck? That was... But how was it possible?

“_Impossible_....” she breathed out, staring at the dirtied, scraped up form of Evangelion Unit-01, shocked beyond belief. It was bloodied, dented, covered in wounds, _missing an arm_, but it was still, undeniably, Unit-01. 

Something about it was off, though. The proportions were wrong, its chest too narrow, its limbs more gangly… this wasn’t the Raiment that housed Yui Ikari, but it was… something.

She stepped closer, shivering as the feeling of wrongness increased and the hair on her neck stood on end. Goosebumps trailed down her limbs as she crossed into its shadow. She could feel the pressure of its AT-Field, still projecting out into the world even though it was deactivated, almost dead. The wound on its arm, though fresh, did not bleed. Its plug was… its plug was ejected, sticking out and wide open, though dried out and crusted with old LCL.

Strange… even the LCL was a slightly different color than it should have been- more clear and red instead of sickly orange.

She floated upwards, using her magic and doing her damn hardest to make sure that she didn’t use her own AT-Field. Evangelions were temperamental on the best of days- she didn’t want to see what would happen if she forced an AT-Field clash on the _most_ temperamental Evangelion.

And yet, the moment she laid a single, hesitant finger on the horn of the kneeling, dead beast…

“GET BACK!” she shouted, immediately rushing back down, away from the beast as it began to awaken once more. “IT’S ACTIVATING!”

The workers around the area immediately scattered, men and women alike abandoning their posts and fleeing, screaming as the beast began to tremble with the creaks and groans of tortured steel, coming to life as its AT-Field went from a cloud of wrongness to a full and terrible _pressure_ that shook the ground, kicked up sand, and turned the sky _purple_ with its sheer power.

Sheffield scooped up Joseph and Bidashal, pushing her AT-Field out to counter the heavy weight on her as she jetted away with all her might, magic and AT-Field mingling to throw them as far away as possible.

The Evangelion awoke, and its eyes were bloody, crimson red, glowing hellishly as it shook off the rust that accumulated in the last few weeks, its wounds weeping gallons upon gallons of boiling hot blood, its plug retracting into its form with a loud squeal of rusted motors, its AT-Field becoming sharp and _dangerous_ as the sky turned a deep, dark red.

Thunderous footfalls shook the earth, scattering the population of the oasis as the elves fled from the new god that they had found. It roared, and began rising into the air, arms spread wide, one of flesh and metal, the other glowing orange as it was constructed from its AT-Field. A scream, a tortured scream as loud and deep as the beast’s roar echoed out just behind, wings bursting from the Evangelion’s back and stretching across the sky.

_”I! WANT! REI! GIVE HER BACK!”_ the voice roared to the heavens, full of deep anguish and unending rage. A halo burst into existence above the Evangelion’s head, humming with power and angelic chorus. _”WHERE ARE YOU, AYANAMI!?”_

The cry echoed, far across the desert sands, striking Sheffield like a wall and reverberating through her soul.

“Shinji…?” she whispered, eyes wide as she dropped the two deadweights and floated slowly back towards the beast, no, towards Shinji. “.... but… not… _my_ Shinji…”

Slowly, agonizingly, fearful that she might die at any moment, Rei shed her pretense and flew up to Shinji, arms outstretched and a silent plea on her lips.

“Shinji!” she cried out, immediately halting the monstrous beast in its tracks.

_”Ayanami…?”_ Shinji asked, his voice hesitant and broken, shaky and rough from screaming. _”Is… is that you…?”_

“Please, stop this, Shinji. Please, come out of the Eva.” Rei gently placed a hand on the horn of Unit-01, trembling slightly as she realized very suddenly that, even if she was Rei, she wasn’t _his_ Rei. And if _she_ could tell…

_”... I can’t… I… I don’t… I don’t know where I am anymore,”_ Shinji mumbled, slowly descending as he relaxed his AT-Field once more, dropping to the sand with a thunderous crash and collapsing to his knees. _”... But… you’re… you’re not Ayanami, are you?”_

Rei shook her head and sighed. “I… I am not. I am Ayanami but… not _your_ Ayanami. I am sorry, Shinji.”

Shinji took a deep breath, sighing explosively in a hot rush of wind that howled across the sand, metal creaking with every step as his AT-Field twisted with emotion, and he let out a wail of despair, loud and despondent and echoing with both sound and soul.

Quietly, Bidashal and Joseph decided to make a hasty retreat back to safer territories, while Rei comforted Shinji until she, too, had to go, with the promise of return as soon as possible.

<>

“Shinji-kun,” Rei murmured, furrowing her brow as she paused in the midst of writing a formula on the chalkboard, staring out the window and wondering why she could _feel_ something wrong, something _happening_ far away.

“Ah shit, it woke up,” Yui muttered, scratching her head as she began locking up her lab equipment. “C’mon Rei, time to go meet my other self. Should be a pretty fun reunion for you, I guess. Pack your bags, we’re leaving as soon as we can.”

“Other self… Shogoki,” Rei gasped in realization, eyes wide as she clutched her hands together, squeezing an object that hadn’t been there before.

A worn out SDAT player, its track listing stuck forever on number 27, its earbuds forever playing faintly the song _Tsubasa wo Kudasai._

“_Shinji-kun_.”


	34. Chapter 34

“Gonna go see a hottie, gonna go see a hottie~” Ramiel sang to herself, humming a made up tune as she floated across the desert sands, carefully modulating her AT-Field to soak up as much heat from the surrounding area as possible, both to keep Louise from passing out from heat stroke, and to help give her just the tiniest extra bit of power in case she had to ice a bitch.

“... I still have dibs,” Zeruel deadpanned, doing much the same for Cattleya, though she was also carrying enough medical supplies to fill an entire hospital, just in case Cattleya’s constitution took a turn for the worse.

Louise sighed and tuned the two angels out, a feat made all the more difficult due to the fact that she was currently sitting on top of Ramiel’s currently cuboid form. She silently envied the fact that Henrietta got to ride on top of Azariel, far away from the increasingly perverse discussion that both Ramiel and Zeruel were getting into. She carefully did not envy Rei, who got to ride in Yui’s entry plug and thus had to listen to the crazy woman go on and on about the no doubt terrifyingly horrible experiments she and her counterpart would run on the poor, fragile, already violated fabric of spacetime.

Oh, and Tabitha and Kirche, who got to ride on Sylphid’s back. 

….

“... Wait, why is our traveling group so big?” she wondered out loud, scratching her head and looking about at the sheer amount of people (and non-sentient familiars) scattered about. “Surely we could have just sent Yui by herse- actually, no, nevermind on that one.”

"Great-Gran is enthusiastic," Siesta said--wait where the FUCK did _she_ come from!? Louise yelped and blasted off an Explosion, but for some reason, there was nobody there. 

"The fuck?" Louise whispered. Hallucinations from the desert heat, perhaps? She knocked on Ramiel’s surface. "Not to derail a conversation or anything, but either of you feel a Lilim around here?" 

“... I think you’re hallucinating, Master,” Ramiel deadpanned, scanning the area idly just in case. “We left Siesta behind, remember?”

“... She was just here a second ago,” Zeruel muttered, then made a little grumble of realization. “...That rat bastard Tabris must have taught her how to teleport.”

“... Huh, no wonder her presence kept popping around the last couple days,” Ramiel mumbled, putting it out of mind with a metaphorical shrug.

Louise frowned. "So what that effectively means is that we have an uncontained vector of Yui Ikari running around unsupervised?" 

“Eh, she’ll be fine… probably,” Ramiel replied blithely, not at all concerned about what one Lilim with a half-formed AT-Field and no core could do. “She can’t use magic and she’ll probably run out of energy after like four teleports so whatever.”

“Five,” Zeruel cut in, pointing to the groaning, half collapsed form of Siesta slightly ahead of them in the sand before Tabris popped out from behind a cactus and summarily dragged her away back to the Academy, vanishing behind a convenient rock slightly further away.

“Huh. Well how about that,” Ramiel deadpanned.

Louise _sighed._ "When do we _get there_ already?"

<>

“About now,” Ramiel spoke up some hours later, idly looking out over the oasis as they crested a final mountainous sand dune and took in the sight of Unit-01 towering over the sands despite only sitting there crosslegged. “Heeeyyyy it _is_ the hottie! Though, something about her feels… different. Smaller somehow…. And male, I guess. And like doubled? Does that make any sense to the metaphysically disinclined mortals in the back?”

The back armor of Yui Ikari hissed open, partially ejecting the plug and allowing Ayanami to exit. “I think that’s my- well, _her_ son,” was the Evangelion’s input. “Rei, you’re up. You can use your AT-Field to get there faster; I tweaked your Core slightly.”

Rei nodded, and immediately took off across the sands, ignoring everything around her as she kicked up a trail of dust in her wake. She clenched the SDAT player in her hand, feeling the gentle creak of its case as the plastic flexed. She had to see him, she could feel him in there, she could feel his despair echoing through the pressure of his soul, she could remember the desperation on his face as he tried to reach her, to _save her_.

She would not fail him now.

She would save him, as he had saved her.

“Shinji-kun!” she all but shouted, and leapt into the air, boosting herself with her AT-Field until she was level with the core of the Evangelion, hovering before it and slamming her hands against the crimson orb, ignoring the pain shooting through her arms as the sudden impact jostled her bones. “I’m here!”

_”Ayanami!? It’s you!”_ Shinji gasped out, his core pulsing and throbbing under Rei’s touch. The evangelion made a bellowing cry, a sobbing sound full of joy and relief. _”You’re alive…. You’re here…. I’m… I’m so happy…”_

“Yes, I’m here Shinji-kun,” Rei murmured, smiling gently as she let herself move forward and hugged his core, placing her cheek against the smooth, cool surface and sighing. “It’s time to come out now, Shinji-kun. You can’t stay in the Evangelion.”

_”I… I don’t know if I can come out. I don’t… I don’t know how to get out,”_ Shinji muttered sheepishly, lifting a gargantuan hand and scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“Shh… it’s okay… just… take my hand,” Rei pulled back for a moment and reached out with a single hand, floating back until she was just inside of his arms reach.

With a burst of holy chorus, Shinji burst to life again, his AT-Field activating and pulsing, swirling down and creating the glowing left arm once more, the halo above his head shining as he reached out with the arm made of his soul, gently, oh so gently.

A colossal hand, bigger than a building stretched out through the air, flickering slightly with sheer joy that tinged the air a beautiful pinkish hue. Rei smiled, echoing the joy in her soul as she reached out and gently, so gently, placed her hand upon the end of one massive finger and _pulled_.

Her soul sang alongside Shinji’s, an echoing roar of sound, trumpet fanfare, triumphant piano, a full orchestra and chorus as the SDAT player in her hand spun to life and _sang_. The AT-Field around them blazed into full view as Shinji’s body, the body of Evangelion Unit-01, burst into a blaze of golden light that overtook the sun, blindingly bright even as it grew and grew, swelling in time with the music until-

“Welcome back, Shinji-kun,” Rei murmured quietly, gently holding onto Shinji, cradling him in her arms as the last of the light faded away slowly around them, descending slowly to the ground. 

“You saved me…” Shinji muttered, burying his face in Rei’s shoulder and letting out a quiet sob, clutching Rei’s shirt in his hands and shuddering as he finally let out all of his pent up stress. “I was… I was trying to save you and I couldn’t… I couldn’t get to you in time…. But you’re here now… you saved me instead… I’m sorry… I’m sorry I couldn’t… couldn’t save you in time.”

“Shh… it’s alright, Shinji. You’re safe now,” Rei whispered, rocking back and forth and patting his back. “You’re safe, that’s all that matters.”

<>

“Not that this isn’t horrifically sweet and cavity inducing,” Louise deadpanned as she turned away from where Cattleya, Kirche, Zeruel, Ramiel, Henrietta, Azariel, and even fucking _Yui_ were cooing over the scene before them. “But what the _fuck_ do we do with _her?_”

She pointed over at the very conscious and very awkward looking form of one Yui Ayanami, still dressed in the plugsuit she “died” in and not looking a day over thirty-something and, despite how Yui Ikari was actually a giant purple robot with godly powers, completely, totally, utterly human, with absolutely zero trace of an AT-Field.

“Uh… hello?” she waved, looking around and wondering just _what the fuck_ had happened. “.... Would anyone like to explain what happened after I got stabbed and dismembered while trying to prevent the unwanted end of the world? I don’t… quite know how I’m human again. Or alive. Or… in a desert.”


	35. Chapter 35

“... Not that this isn’t a touching scene,” a voice piped up in the middle of several tearful reunions- Shinji with his mom, Yui Ayanami with the concept of having a human body again, the other Yui with Ramiel’s hands violating her personal space, Rei with Shinji, Zeruel with her hands violating Yui Ayanami’s personal space, and Louise’s forehead with the palm of her hand- “But where the fuck did you lot take the- Shinji!?”

“Sheffield…” Tabitha whimpered, throwing herself behind Louise and hiding from the gaze of the blue haired woman who’d turned her life into a living hell.

“Ah… you’re here too,” Rei sighed, rubbing her forehead and clenching her fist by her side while Shinji just looked very, _very_ confused as to why there were like… he mentally counted off the Reis while the Rei hugging him just stared at the tall Rei. 

There was… Tall Rei, his Rei, loud and bratty Rei with the collarbone core, dark skinned Rei, silver maid Rei, that short girl who kinda looked like Rei, and also his mom(s?), who looked an awful lot like Rei to the point where he was starting to think that Ayanami had more in common with his mom than just the last name. 

… Also the pink haired one felt a _lot_ like Asuka now that he thought about it, and… why did he feel the ominous presence of his father somewhere in the distance?

As he ruminated over those facts, the Pink Asuka marched right past him and poked Tall Rei in the chest. 

"_You,_" Louise hissed. "_What_ did you do to my Tabby, you _bitch?_" 

Sheffield allowed herself a smirk. "You do know that her name is neither Tabby nor Tabitha, right? It's Charlotte. Has she never told you?" 

Louise’s eyes widened and she hugged Tabitha tighter at her side. "You traumatized her so much that she _gave up her name!?_ You'll pay!" 

Louise leveled her wand, a snarl on her lips. With a silent roll of her eyes, Sheffield immediately flicked her wrist and flexed her magic, a rippling wave of energy mixed with the power of her AT-field, the resultant mix slamming into Louise and just jostling her back a few steps.

“Far, far too obvious, little Valliere,” Sheffield sighed, erecting her AT-Field in a full wall as she blocked Ramiel’s reflexive laser beam and groaned, immediately regretting her decision as she slid her AT-Field to the side and…

“... Oops,” Sheffield deadpanned, staring at the spot where Joseph had _almost_ lost his manhood. And had actually lost his head. Along with his entire upper body. Whoops. “Congratulations, you just committed regicide.”

Sheffield touched her forehead, revealing a string of fading runes. She allowed herself a lazy grin. "Oh well. I can use magic without Miodaitnir now, too. That always had to go anyway." 

Sheffield glanced at the lower half of Joseph. "Mind you, he _was_ a disgusting little man, so I'm not that broken up about him." 

She clapped her hands together. "How about we instead _talk?_" 

"What do we have to talk about!?" Louise snarled. "You hurt Tabby! I find that inexcusable!" 

Sheffield nodded. "I admit, that one is on me. Then again, you haven't seen what I started out with - a pathetic, arrogant spoiled _brat_ who thought that the world _belonged_ to her." She sneered. "_Far_ too similar to Pilot Sohryu. I simply could not stand that."

Louise’s eyes were flashing. "And traumatising her to the point she's practically monosyllabic on the best of days, and shuts down at the mere _mention_ of you otherwise, was that the saner option!?" 

Sheffield glared coldly. "I did back off once I realised I had created myself from before Joseph summoned me," she declared icily. "It is not a very comfortable realization, I assure you _that._"

Louise’s eyes widened. "You- what?" 

"I was once very similar to what she is now," Sheffield replied with a patronising tone. "Realizing that I'd created through physical training what took doctor Akagi psychosuppressant drugs to accomplish was... Uncomfortable. Clearly, I have latent psychopathic tendencies." 

She crossed her arms. "Did you get all that, or should I use smaller words?" 

"Stuff a sock in it," declared Louise. "Reasons or no, I'm not forgiving you." 

Sheffield raised her eyebrows. "I never expected you to, little Valliere. You are _also_ far too similar to Asuka." 

"Wait..." 

Shinji looked around to see who had spoken, before he realized it had been in his own voice. Thus, he gathered up his courage and asked. "Um, tall Ayanami, why did you call Asuka 'Pilot Sohryu'? At... At least I think you called Asuka 'Pilot Sohryu'. Did I... hear right?" 

Sheffield tilted her head. "You did. Asuka Langley Sohryu, an arrogant blowhard with delusions of her own importance. Why?" 

Shinji frowned. "But... Asuka's last name is Shikinami...?" 

"Different Asuka, different timeline," was pink-haired not!Asuka's impatient contribution. "What, couldn't you figure this out already, given multiple accounts of both your mom and your Rei? What an idiot." 

Shinji gave her a side-eye. "Are you _sure_ you're not related to Asuka?" 

Louise flipped him off, turning to back to Sheffield, who was watching the interaction with an amused smirk. "And _you._ I'm still not forgiving you. But I'll let you be on _one_ condition." Louise leaned forward, eyes flashing. "_**Never** interact with Tabitha again._"

Sheffield smirked. "I wasn't planning to. But I can't guarantee that our paths will not cross again. The man I _actually_ respect still has a Plan I intend to follow." 

She looked over to Shinji, her smirk thinning. "Shinji-kun. Although he might not be your specific father, the Commander sends his regards." She put a hand on his shoulder. "And his apologies. Look us up later, would you?" 

Removing her hand, Sheffield looked over, staring Tabitha straight in the eye, and grinned widely. It actually looked kind of terrifying. "One final thing to you - congratulations on your promotion, Queen Charlotte." 

With that parting shot, Sheffield fell into her shadow and disappeared, taking the shadow with it. 

Louise immediately hugged Tabitha close. "It's okay, Tabb- wait." She furrowed her brow. "Are you okay with me calling you Tabby? Or should I start calling you Charlotte? Whatever you wish, I'll respect it." 

"Tabby," was the muffled reply. "Would prefer." 

Louise stroked the other girl's hair lightly. "Okay, Tabby. Okay."

<>

Sheffield walked straight out of a shadow in Gendo's office. "Commander, there have been developments," she declared.

Gendo immediately adjusted his glasses. "Report." 

Vittorio glanced between the two, frowning. "I'm still in the room, you know. Where did this woman come from? I'm pretty sure there aren't any hidden doors in that specific corner... Is she your spymaster?" 

Sheffield shrugged. "Sure, let's go with that. Commander, did you happen to fantasize a bit too hard recently?" 

Gendo steepled his fingers. "Not to my knowledge. What has happened, Rei?" 

The unamusement on Rei's face could have been chiseled. "Your wife has been doubled." 

Vittorio blinked. "I beg your pardon?" 

Gendo seemed frozen. Rei sighed and slapped him across the face. "Stop fantasizing, Commander. There's more." 

Gendo glared, rubbing at his cheek. Vittorio had meanwhile helped himself to Gendo's cheese plate and was enjoying the show. 

"Continue," ordered the Commander. 

Rei entered a stance of attention. "Another Unit-01 arrived from a different timeline. The Shinji within has achieved godhood. Someone has summoned Zeruel. The little Valliere has tweaked the Familiar Summoning spell to only summon Angels. Henrietta de Tristain has summoned an unknown Angel. There is another Rei, sharing a timeline with the Shinji who arrived."

Rei took a breath. "The other Rei somehow forced the other Unit-01 into human form. A 'Yui Ayanami' was also ejected. I was able to glean the Angel Summoning spell from the little Vallière's mind." 

Rei paused. "Oh, and Joseph is dead. I am no longer Miodaitnir." 

Vittorio tsched. "That's bad news. Who knows who the next Void Mage might be!" His eyes brightened. "But you said that you got the Angel-summoning spell? Fantastic! My Vindalfr, you must try it out at once!" 

Gendo glared. "Must I?" 

Wearing an expression of dry amusement, Rei shrugged. "I know for a fact that you can do magic now, Commander. I think you should do it. We would never know when we need an Angel." 

Gendo Ikari heaved a long-suffering sigh.


	36. Chapter 36

“My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from the very bottom of my heart - add to my guidance and appear!” Gendo Ikari chanted, mild distaste in his voice and two insufferable gremlins cheering him on. He supposed it was _some_ sort of divine punishment, but he wasn't yet sure _which._

With a flash of light that seemed almost sickly and _blue_, a swirling green portal appeared before him, warping and unstable before it erupted into a burst of light and left an eminently familiar shape on the ground before him- a shock of red hair, a crimson plugsuit with a fairly questionable design in the chest area, and, strangely enough, an eyepatch of all things.

Gendo stared at the unconscious form of Asuka before him and sighed, rubbing his forehead with a heavy groan of anguish. “Rei. I thought you said this would summon an _angel_. This is an alternate version of Pilot Sohryu. And I am _not_ kissing a fourteen year old girl. I’m a married man, not a pedophile.”

Wordlessly, Rei stepped forward and lifted the eyepatch. "Found the Angel," she deadpanned. 

The eye underneath was open, aware, and faintly glowing. The surrounding facial tissue was also infected with the same faintly glowing fungal matter. 

Gendo made a face. "I suppose I will kiss the goo, then." He sighed. "Pentagon of the Five Powers, et cetera, Familiar." 

He placed his lips on the eye. 

With an ungodly shriek of agony, the blue goo rippled and erupted, Asuka herself writhing and shrieking herself as the barriers between souls twisted and warped, a core growing and replacing Asuka’s eye entirely while fungal veins tore through her body and grew, wrapping around her body until she was engulfed in a mass of organic tissue that warped and shifted until it became a nearly two meter tall, fleshy, kind of disgusting looking approximation of a mix between Evangelion Unit-02 and Evangelion Unit-03 in that it mostly looked like Unit-02, but also had four arms and a sort of dark blue and white complexion.

“What… the _FUCK_ is going on!?” came the voice of Asuka, made guttural and strange as the newly formed angelic… _thing_ clutched its head and sank to its knees.

...

“No I don’t want to be merged with a fucking angel! This is disgusting!”

...

“.... What do you mean I’d fucking die if you left!?”

...

“ARE YOU PARASITIZING ME YOU HORRIBLE OOZE BLOB!?”

...

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOUR NAME IS YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS BLOB! I THOUGHT ANGELS HAD INFINITE ENERGY! WHY THE FUCK DO YOU NEED ME TO POWER YOUR CORE!?”

…

“HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOSE AN ENTIRE SET OF ORGANS!?”

“....” Gendo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, watching as the fungal monstrosity receded back into itself until all that was left was Asuka herself, yelling at her now blue fungus covered arm and almost on the verge of tearing her hair out.

"Bardiel, I presume?" Rei asked lightly, torn between irritation at Asuka's presence and amusement at her situation. "How are you enjoying your newfound free will from the White Progenitor?" 

“She says she hates it,” Asuka deadpanned, then smacked herself in the face with her blue arm. “Ow! Fuck! Goddamn loser piece of shit angel! I’ll kill you myself!”

_”I can fucking talk on my own you know!”_ Bardiel erupted from Asuka’s shoulder, taking on the shape of Evangelion Unit-03’s head and speaking with an almost shrill, screeching voice. _”... I just… had to figure out how, first.”_

“... Interesting,” Rei murmured, staring unblinkingly as the core replacing Asuka’s eye pulsed and the fungal mass shifted slightly. “... You are the only angel I have seen who resorts to plain vocalizations rather than high density data packets transmitted through your AT-Field.”

“That’s because this loser lost all the goddamn organs she needed to do that stuff!” Asuka sighed, shouting triumphantly as she caught her own arm before Bardiel could smack her with it. “Watch it goo blob! Remember who’s being your fucking battery you ingrate!”

Gendo sighed. "Rei, remind me why you thought I could use an Angel familiar again?" 

"In my defense," Rei snarked, "that one had seemed far more impressive when it was actually possessing an Evangelion and not just a Pilot." 

_**”Hey! I resent that remark!”**_ Asuka growled, both her and Bardiel in sync for the second time ever as their combined form grew back into the monstrous being it was before. _**”.... Okay, this is actually kinda cool. I take back the part about you being useless.”**_

Vittorio, who had been hanging back, frowned. "Bardiel, was it? What are you an Angel of? Specifically, is there anything you _do_ aside from... that?" 

_”... I uh… not… really? My entire plan was to possess organic stuff and fuck shit up… and then uh… I got my shit wrecked. Real bad. Really, **really** bad. Really, really, really, **really** bad. Like, got my shit wrecked so hard I had to lay dormant in an eyeball for like the next ten years,”_ Bardiel answered, somehow managing to do a full body blush despite not having blood and being mostly made up of fungus. 

“Yeah, because you decided to attack the single most temperamental and bitchy Evangelion on the planet to the point that it ripped us both out of Unit-03 and _nearly killed both of us_,” Asuka snarked, receding back into herself and jabbing the core in her eyesocket. “Ow! Why the fuck does that hurt me too!?”

_”We’re bonded, idiot. It’s the same reason why you can still use my core as an eyeball. Are you sure that I’m the only idiot loser in the room?”_

“Fuck off!”

The pope sighed. "I see. My Vindalfr, please ask your spymaster to perform the ritual herself. As impressive as this Bardiel is, we could use another." 

Rei's eyes widened. "Commander-" 

"A wonderful idea, Mr. Severare," was Gendo's lightning-fast reply. "Rei, do it." 

Rei narrowed her eyes. "This is payback for talking you into it," she accused, "isn't it?" 

"You are absolutely correct," Gendo said. "Get to it." 

Rei exhaled. "I swear," she groused, "If I hadn't fucked up the Mini-Asuka into a Mini-Me, I'd go join Ramiel's harem just about now." 

“.... Excusa-what now?” Asuka deadpanned, staring at Gendo and Rei for a moment before the reality of the situation hit her. “... Wait. What the _fuck_ are you talking about, who the fuck is that pope looking guy, where the _fuck_ are we, what fucking mini-me, what fucking harem, and why the _absolute fucketh_ are you two even here!? And also, why the fuck is wondergirl wearing a fetishy wizard robe and ten years older, and why do we look like we’re in Italy?”

_”Ramiel’s alive!?”_ Bardiel shrieked happily, wiggling disgustingly on Asuka’s shoulder before making a weird squishy noise. _”... Shit. I can’t even operate a sensor ping anymore. This is what I get for trying to copy Iruel…”_

"Welcome to Halkeginia," Rei snarked. "Land of magic, medieval values, and Royal assholes. Yes, I'm saying that literally." 

She stalked right up to Asuka. "I see you still call me 'wondergirl'," she noted. "Kindly cease, if only by the fact that I rather qualify as a Wonder _Woman_ by now." 

She idly circled the girl. "Let's take this from the top, shall we? 

We were talking about using _magic_ to summon a _Familiar_. Why yes, magic does exist. You'll probably pick it up too. Lilim souls are frightfully good at picking up stray energies, likely owing to the fact that they're held together with duct tape and prayer."

Rei was listing off of her fingers. "The 'pope-looking guy', as you so aptly put it, is in fact the Pope of Romalian Church, His Holiness Aegis VIII, Vittorio Severare. Well spotted, the Pope is actually a Pope." 

“The fact that you actually have a personality now makes me instantly like you like three thousand times more, even if you’re insulting me to my face,” Asuka muttered, staring up at Rei with something resembling admiration. “It only took, what, like, ten years to grow an emotional cortex?”

"I had to spend ten years around a manchild with zero capacity to even start growing an emotional cortex," Rei snarked. "The fact that I ran out of psychosuppressants probably helped. I had to cultivate a sarcastic gland _somehow._"

“I suddenly feel sorry for you,” Asuka grumbled, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow before coming to a sudden realization. “Oh for _fuck_. Both of us are in our twenties now, and _I’m_ the one that gets to be the pedophile’s wet dream!? Fuck! Why do you get to grow up when I had to stay a kid for the last ten years!?”

"The Commander's wife could probably hook you up with something," Rei hummed, "but I wouldn't trust her if I were you. Anyway. Back to your questions." 

She smiled wryly. "As to where we are, and why it looks like Italy, we're in Rome. Apparently the local planet shares some parallel history with our own, even if Europe only has five countries. You'd be pleased to know that Germania actually has an Emperor." 

“... He’s not a racist incompetent with a horrible mustache, is he?” Asuka furrowed her brow in sudden worry, biting her lip as she tried not to think about what a Hitler-esque person would do in a world full of magic.

"Last I checked, he had a full beard," Rei said. "Regarding the mini-you however... Take a moment to imagine a bit, would you?" 

Rei narrowed her eyes. "Imagine yourself at your highest of pride. Imagine when you were convinced that you could take on anything. Not even a sudden case of insane mother could stop you. You were on top of the world. And on top of that, you were an actual royal princess." Rei smiled grimly. "Because that's exactly what I came across." 

“.... Eugh, that must have been fucking awful. What, did you punt her in the face or something?” Asuka asked, raising an eyebrow and wondering just where Rei was going with the story. 

"The manchild that was my Master wanted me to train her into a veritable force of nature," Rei said quietly. "She already reminded me of you. I had... Frustrations from my time as Pilot." She looked away. "I'm ashamed to say, I took them out. On bratty little Charlotte." 

Rei smiled wryly, but it didn't reach her eyes. "She certainly is a veritable force of nature. Her runic name is The Snowstorm. Her familiar is a dragon." She sighed. "She's more monosyllabic than I ever was. Her hair is styled exactly the same as mine. She has adopted the name of the doll her mother is oh so obsessed with. And she finches away every time she sees me." 

“... I can’t believe you turned into a worse mother than my mom and she tried to commit a murder-suicide on me when I was six,” Asuka stated, actually quite shocked at Rei’s confession. “Like, wow, good going wondergirl, you really fucked up there. Christ, all of us Eva pilots are fucked up, aren’t we… Hey speaking of, since the last thing anyone ever saw of that fucking idiot Shinji was him vanishing to fuckall nowhere after pretty much blowing up half the planet to go bone… uh, I guess you, do you think he showed up here?”

"Yes," Rei answered blandly. "I believe he accidentally achieved godhood. And my doublet pulled both him and his mother out of his Evangelion. And now I have to deal with slapping the Commander out of his threesome fantasies." 

“... I literally never want to hear that phrase ever again,” Asuka made a disgusted face, inching away from where Gendo was staring out the window with an uncharacteristically goofy expression. “... I… I mean, I lost all respect for him a long time ago when he decided to make more of those godawful MP Evas to try and fucking destroy the planet for real or whatever but holy christ I did _not_ want to imagine his sex life.”

Rei sighed, flashing out with an AT-Field and dope-slapping Gendo. "Right," she groused, "time to violently change the topic by hooking me up with an Angel of my own." 

A pentagram etched itself into the floor. Rei narrowed her eyes in determination. “My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from the very bottom of my heart - add to my guidance and appear!”

She infused the circle with her AT-field. 

And in a burst of light, an ungodly shriek filled the air, blinding and deafening everyone in the room before a horribly warm and static-y feeling _thing_ wrapped itself around Rei, a smooth surface pressed to her lips and sealing the contract before she could even react.

_H U G S_

“Oh god, ew ew ew ew, what the fuck is that!?” Asuka shrieked, throwing herself away from Rei and the newly visible form of…

“... I immediately hate literally _everything_ about this,” Rei sighed, shuddering to herself and trying not to puke from feeling Armisael wrapped around her, reawakening old traumas that she really did not want to think about. Ever.

Before she could physically throw her horrible disgusting awful familiar off of herself, one of the cores running down its length suddenly detonated in a shower of blood, causing Armisael to shriek and uncoil as yet another burst of light flooded the room for a moment, leaving behind a slightly smaller glowy worm thing that resolved into the form of yet another Rei… and Armisael, who took on the form of a floating, stark white Rei with what might as well have been a genie tail.

“... I hate. Literally. Everything. About this,” Asuka groaned, burying her face in her hands and trying not to cry tears of horrific confusion while Bardiel just patted her back with a gooey tendril, also very confused as to what the _fuck_ was going on.

“... I… _what_!?” Rei spoke up, pointing at the fourteen year old Rei on the ground, who responded with a raised middle finger, then at Armisael, who just waved cheerily. “What the fuck!? What the fucking _fuck!?_”


	37. Chapter 37

“.... Ramiel?”

“Yeah Zeruel?”

“You know those pieces of abomination robot that I threw up back at your Master’s house?”

“Yeah?”

“... They’re uh… not there anymore,” Zeruel shifted on her feet, biting her lip and looking suddenly very nervous. “... Also there’s a _lot_ more active AT-Fields up than there were a few days ago.”

“And Bardiel,” Ramiel finished, rolling her eyes as she let out a quick ping and… wow, that was a lot of AT-Fields. “... Hey Zeruel, do you think those abomination robot pieces were uh… still alive?”

“... I mean, I didn’t ever break the core…”

“... And AT-Fields can pull even dismembered pieces back together…”

“... And the abomination robots are full of rage and hubris…”

“.... Zeruel?” Ramiel asked sweetly, breathing in deeply as she pinged the AT-Field that was some several hundred kilometers north-ish and tried very hard to not throttle her younger sister.

“Yeah Ramiel?”

“When you get your ass beaten by a little girl that’s actually a giant abomination robot, try not to ruin your underwear.”

“... Noted,” Zeruel coughed into her hand and twiddled her thumbs, humming quietly as she stared north-ish. “... Though, that AT-Field isn’t projecting any rage… mostly confusion.”

“... Yea- oh… oooohhhh no. Oh no no no no no. Ohhhh FUCK!” Ramiel jumped out of her chair and immediately began dancing in circles, tapping her feet rapidly on the floor while fisting her hands in her hair. “THAT LITTLE BITCH! THAT HORRIBLE LITTLE BITCH IS HERE! HOW THE FUCK IS SHE HERE!? HOW! IS! ARMISAEL! HERE!? WE WERE AN ENTIRE TIMELINE AND A WHOLE-ASS UNIVERSE APART!”

“... Well obviously someone summoned her,” Zeruel pointed out, not really seeing what the problem with Armisael was. “What’s wrong with Misa-chan anyway?”

“She’s all gross and wiggly and _weird_ and she tried to resurrect other me in the most horrible disgusting way possible!” Ramiel wailed, shuddering in disgust and trying not to puke up the delicious croissants she gorged down for breakfast. “I don’t want her to touch me with her weird gross wiggly organic bits!”

“... Ramiel. _You’re_ organic now.”

“... I… I mean… yeah? But that’s different…”

“... We as a species collectively share a single fucking brain cell and out of all of us summoned to this universe right now, only Azariel is using it,” Zeruel sighed, dropping her face into her hands and groaning heavily.

“Not true,” Azariel spoke up from where she’d been obsessively scrubbing away at a burn spot on the wall. “I just follow Henrietta’s orders and make it look like I know what I’m doing. I’m just as stupid as you two are.”

“We as a species are so smart that we can bend multi-dimensional physics over as our bitch, and yet, we are also so dumb that none of us can actually do jack fucking shit,” Zeruel sighed, watching miserably as Ramiel jumped out the fucking window without opening it first and Azariel proceeded to freak out over the shattered glass. “I hate literally everything about this ‘free will’ shit.”

“... You all really are stupid,” Tabris sighed, palming his face as he stepped out from behind a bookshelf and looked around. “Granted, I am also stupid because I seem to have lost Siesta and I know she’s over her six teleport limit at the moment. Could you help me look for her before she dies of exposure?”

Without waiting for an answer, he immediately dived under a table and vanished. “Aha! There you are!”

“No wonder you all got your asses kicked,” Yui Ikari muttered, wondering why the fuck all the Angels decided to hang out in _her_ lab of all places. “Anyway, A-chan, what do you think of this?”

“... I think your dimensional matrix is misaligned by a few degrees, I-chan,” Yui Ayanami answered, wiping and replacing a section of the chalkboard with her own equations. “Granted, I haven’t spent as long in the core as you have, but ascending to godhood was a pretty good crash course on the physics of dimensional manipulation. By the way, why are we trying to punch back into our universal subgroup anyway?”

“It’s a fun thought exercise,” Ikari shrugged, crossing out a few lines and rewriting them. “Besides, not like we have any reason to really try and cause an Impact on a world without the resources necessary for it.”

“I mean, the vessel of Adam is right there, and there’s like four Reis walking around right now,” Ayanami frowned, then shook her head. “But then again, causing an Impact would negatively impact Shinji’s potential sex life…”

“That too.”

“.... Does anyone want to explain why Ramiel threw herself out of a tenth story window?” Louise finally spoke up from where she’d been cuddling with Tabitha, fed up with literally everyone’s bullshit. “Actually you know what, no. I’d prefer not to know.”

<>

Everything hurt.

Everything really, really hurt, but she couldn’t stop moving. 

She could feel it off in the distance, southwards. AT-Fields. Angels.

She didn’t know how she was human again, she didn’t know how she pulled herself together again, she didn’t know how she survived getting dismembered, she didn’t know a lot, but she knew that there were Angels. And she knew there were Evangelions.

She flexed her hand, grimacing at the segmented scars that separated her body into a patchwork not unlike the joints of a _doll_. At least the armor she wore was comfortable, yellow and white, semi-organic despite its metallic composition. Just like the armor of the Evangelion she had been trapped in for god knows how many years before getting eaten by the same thing she could feel off in the distance.

But why it had to be a nearly skintight swimsuit thing was lost on her. If it had been a plugsuit, that would have made sense, but a one piece swimsuit?

Rei shook her head and just thanked whatever luck she had that she at least got boots and-

“Argh!” Rei grumbled, almost tripping over her feet as her armor suddenly _shifted_, becoming an actual plugsuit instead of the glorified swimsuit it was before. “... This is different…”

She sighed, not letting it get to her as she continued her journey south.

With any luck, she’d be able to get an actual explanation out of _someone_ about where she was, and why everything smelled so much more fresh and alive than usual. And why she was in a forest, of course.

Idly, she wondered if Shinji was alright, then furrowed her brow and frowned, rubbing her forehead and grumbling to herself.

Who the fuck was Shinji, and why the hell did she get the vaguest impression of wanting to get in his pants?

…

Oh right, her second self. The one who piloted her.

The one who hadn’t gotten violently murdered and shoved into an Evangelion core.

… Well at least the impression she got in her mind was that he was kinda cute, since he was the Commander’s son. She supposed Rei 2 could have done worse.

Silently, Rei continued trudging on, towards an uncertain future.


	38. Chapter 38

Josette prayed. 

She began, as she always did, by begging Brimir to forgive her family for not being able to support her; she knew that she wasn't truly an orphan, but sadly she didn't know who her original family was. So she prayed for them. 

She also prayed for her magic to make up its mind on what it wanted to be. She knew she had some; she just wished it could _do_ anything. 

Finally, she prayed for guidance from Brimir, to help his loyal servant find the path she was meant to take. 

Something fell behind her. Josette turned around. 

A book had fallen from the shelf, its pages open. Josette rose, eyes wide, and quickly skittered over. 

The pages were open to a particular page. _Your Familiar and You: A Partner for Life._

Slowly, reverently, Josette picked the book up. She muttered a quick prayer of thanks to Brimir. She knew what she had to do. 

The pentagram was drawn to the floor with great diligence and care. Josette was standing in the middle of it, clutching the open book in one hand and a plain wooden wand in the other. She licked her lips. 

"I," she said, voice calm and steady, "Josette of the Church of Brimir, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a Familiar." 

She stabbed her wand down. 

A bright light appeared, growing in intensity and kicking up wind, as the floor began to tremble. 

An explosion occurred. Josette almost hiccoughed from disappointment. But then, her vision cleared, and her eyes widened. 

A girl stood in front of her, brown hair styled in twin tails, strangely-shaped glasses on her face and a strange pink body-hugging garment on her. She looked curious. 

Josette frantically flipped the pages, trying to figure out if the spell was supposed to summon a human or not, but she couldn't find anything. Then again, she supposed that spending her entire life with the girl wasn't that unappealing either... Ah! 

She'd found the description of the sealing of the contract. A blush bloomed on her face. She swallowed. 

"M-my name is Josette of the Church of Brimir," she said, silently cursing the stutter that had snuck into her voice, "Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, bless this humble being, and make her my Familiar." And before she could reconsider, Josette grabbed the girl into a kiss. 

...oh Founder that felt nice. 

"S-sorry," she stuttered upon separation, a practically luminescent blush on her face. "I-I, that is, the s-spell called for it, I-I'm sorry if you didn't like it, or want to hate me, o-or..." 

The girl giggled. "Oh, that's okay~. It's not everyday I get to be kissed by a cutie like you~" 

Josette eeped and buried her face in her hands.

<>

Louise was glaring, her hands on her hips. "Okay, Ramiel. Do you mind explaining _why_ you thought it was a good idea to jump out of a _closed_ window in a fit of hysteria?"

“Armisael is here! That disgusting little tapeworm is _here_!” Ramiel shuddered, turning vaguely green and very much trying not to puke. “Master, we need to either run away from her as fast as possible, or find whoever summoned her and _annihilate both of them_.”

“... I…” Louise sighed and rubbed her forehead, completely and thoroughly annoyed. “Really? _Really_?”

“Armisael is gross,” Ramiel pouted, crossing her arms and sulking.

Louise let out another sigh. "Let's put the informed grossness aside for a moment and concentrate on the more alarming part of the statement, shall we?" She smiled sweetly. "What, _exactly,_ do you mean by 'summoned'? Who, exactly, could _summon_ an Angel if the only one on this planet with the spell to summon Angels is _me?_"

“I dunno, probably that other Rei,” Ramiel shrugged and waved vaguely off into the distance. “Y’know, the vaguely hotter than normal one. The one that’s a couple hundred kilometers south-ish. That one.”

"And where would she have _gotten_ the spell?" Louise inquired. "I haven't shared it. Neither has Henrietta. Nor Catt. Expound on that mystery?" 

“Well, she probably just interfaced with your mind and pulled it out,” Ramiel shrugged again, then paused and blinked. “.... I’m gonna burn her alive for that. You _don’t_ interface with someone’s soul without permission! Unless you’re Arael, but Arael is a huge bitch and totally deserved dying like that.”

Louise exhaled. "Right, we're going to war," she growled. "But first we need tactical information. What is Armisael capable of?" 

“Penetrating through AT-Fields, merging with cores, absorbing dead souls, forcing organic things with cores to resurrect the dead souls… lots of kinda fucked up stuff, honestly. Not… _really_ that strong, but like… eeuuuggghhhh….” Ramiel shuddered and shook her head, clutching her hands over her core and shivering in disgust. “Honestly she’s just lonely and likes hugs, but she went about it in like, the _worst_ possible way.”

Louise was pacing. "Right. Right. Now all we need is to figure out what the other Rei is packing. She's far craftier than she looks like. We need to plan for _every_ eventuality." 

“... Master, need I remind you that on our side we have not only me, but _Zeruel_ who’s almost as strong as me in terms of sheer firepower, and _Azariel_ who can freeze over _any_ kind of liquid _anywhere_ within a six hundred kilometer radius, and also _two literal gods in human form_.” Ramiel deadpanned, then paused. “... Ehhh…. And also Tabris I guess. Though Yui might abandon us to go fuck her husband or something. I think that bitch and her husband are in the same general area… Or something.”

Louise rolled her eyes. "Sure, but as Zeruel so aptly put, as a _species_ you all collectively share a single brain cell, and Rei Sheffield is _smart_. Godlike firepower doesn't help when your opponent is smart enough to use it to their own ends. Remember what happened to Wales? Or Joseph? I'm 90% certain that the bitch redirected your attack into him on _purpose._ What if she redirects one into _me_ next time? What if she uses your aversion to Armisael against you? What then?"

“Uhhhhhhhhhh…..” Ramiel paused and really considered what Louise had said. What _would_ she do? Well, obviously since Rei’s AT-Field wasn’t actually that strong she could just go with a full power blast and annihilate half the city with one shot. Hm. Though… hm. “... Uhhh…. maybe we do need a plan.”

Louise sighed. "Let's go rope the Yuis into coming up with an actual plan. We're going to need a good one."

<>

“... Kaworu… my… um… _moms_ I guess… um,” Shinji shuffled awkwardly in place, AT-Field flexing and warping with the sheer force of how embarrassed he was that he had to ask this. “... They um… said that you…. L-love me?”

Kaworu paused, took a sip of his tea, set down his cup, and took a deep breath.

“Yes, Shinji. I do. Ever since the moment I saw you, actually.” Kaworu nodded, steepling his hands and trying to act like he wasn’t blushing so hard his entire body down to his arms was starting to turn red. “I… in the timeline that I originally was in, I suppose that I actually confessed to you in my own way… though in your timeline… I was too late to stop you from vanishing.”

He let out a humorless chuckle and shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “In that timeline, I might have been the only person to actually say that to you. Not that you weren’t loved, but that I, somehow, was the one person well adjusted enough to tell you as such.”

“... Oh…” Shinji blushed and looked down, clenching his hands together and biting his lip. “... Um… Cool… I uh… I don’t know if I feel the same way? I… never really thought about that kind of thing before… And um… Also, this might seem kinda weird to admit to you but I think that Rei is um… going a little crazy?”

“...” Kaworu blinked, furrowing his brow as he held his chin in thought. “... Oh. Hm. No, she’s not… well, actually considering who her clone source material is, she probably _does_ have latent psychological issues, but it’s more that… ah. Yes. She’s off her psychosuppressants. Her erratic behavior, I think, is her brain trying to get used to being able to feel emotion again. Er, that said, you may wish to prepare for some _heavy_ sexual advances from her in the near future.”

“Wait what!?”

“... Scratch that, take this, you’ll probably need it,” Kaworu immediately leapt out of his chair and handed Shinji a roll of foil packets, dashing away as Shinji sputtered in sheer embarrassment and vanishing behind a nearby potted plant.

“K-kaworu! W-what am I supposed to do with condoms!?” Shinji shouted, blushing hard, and then blushing even harder when Kaworu poked his head out from behind the plant, winked, and gave him a thumbs up, right as a pair of arms encircled him from behind.

“... Oh.” Shinji gulped. “... H-hi, Ayanami…”

“_Shinji-kun~_” Rei whispered, breathing heavily as she squeezed Shinji close and snuggled against him from behind. “I love you, Shinji-kun~”

“A-ah… Ayanami….” Shinji whimpered, his face burning impossibly hotter as he registered Rei’s words. “T-that… um….”

“Shh… it’s okay, Shinji-kun. It’s okay,” Rei murmured, gently stroking his cheek as she held him against her. “I know you’re feeling stressed. Let me comfort you.”

“O-okay…” Shinji gulped, his heart rate slowly settling down as the warmth of Rei’s soul enveloped his own, soothing and calming him with waves of pure love.

“... Not what I expected would happen,” Kaworu groused, sitting on a windowsill high above and glaring down at Rei. “Dammit. Now I’m jealous. I should be the one doing that.”

“Cockblocked again, I see,” Siesta deadpanned, appearing beside him and cooing at the display below. “Aww, they’re so cute together~ Kinda like Louise and Tabby, but not quite as gay.”

“If I were down there, it’d be far gayer,” Kaworu muttered, drawing his knees up to his chest and sulking. “Oh well… Shinji deserves all the love he can get. Hopefully, though, I’ll at least get to tap that ass _this_ time around.”

“Good fucking luck,” Siesta snickered as she vanished into the wind, then immediately reappeared just inside and collapsed to the floor. “... fuck.”

“You really must stop doing that,” Kaworu sighed, thoroughly annoyed at the now ruined moment.


	39. Chapter 39

“Azariel?” Henrietta asked, tapping her fingers together as she sat in on the impromptu war council between her chevalier, the queen of another country, and several extra dimensional beings, one of which was her familiar.

“Yes, Master?” Azariel asked, only really halfway paying attention to listening to Louise argue with both Yuis that, no, this was not a plan to get them back with their husband.

“... Is Louise Francoise aware that by conscripting you as well as Tabitha, she’s essentially having both Tristain _and_ Gallia declare war on Romalia?” Henrietta asked, her smile brittle and tight as she clenched her fists. 

“... Ah. Right. Politics exist,” Azariel muttered. 

"Do you have doubts that Louise would win?" Cattleya asked curiously. "The Church would have gone after her eventually anyway, as far as Void is concerned." She smiled. "As far as _I'm_ concerned, this is a justifiable preemptive strike. Don't you think so, Zeru-chan?" 

“... We are literally only doing this because Ramiel thinks Armisael is gross and Louise thinks the other Rei is a bitch. Which, true, but still. Is it really worth this much effort?” Zeruel wondered, scratching her head before letting her braids uncoil and thwack Ramiel upside the head. “Oi! Big sis! Do we _really_ need to do this?”

“... Uhhh… considering that Armisael is really gross and I can also feel Bardiel off in the same direction too? Probably.” Ramiel responded, shuddering and making a disgusted face. “Disgusting tapeworm… disgusting loser fungal ooze.”

"Is grossness an actual reason to drag two kingdoms into war?" Henrietta asked icily. "Does either of them pose any _actual_ threat to Tristain or Gallia?"

"Sheffield does," Louise called over. "She stole the spell that can summon Angel familiars straight from my head. It's already been used twice. Who knows what Romalia might get if they use it a third time!" 

“... Armisael alone could destroy a country if she put in the effort, even Bardiel… if Bardiel actually had a useful AT-Field instead of piggybacking off of an Evangelion unit,” Yui Ikari mentioned, tapping the chalkboard that contained an incomprehensible diagram of the specifics of Armisael’s and Bardiel’s AT-Field patterns. “And also, Sheffield Rei is loyal my husband, who knows that pissing me off is the last thing he wants to do. And also, as megalomaniacal as Gendo has become, literally the only thing either of us have been planning for the last decade or so has been a suitably spectacular reunion/second wedding. So… we should still go through with this, but with the intent of making it cinematic, rather than, y’know, blowing up a delightful honeymoon location.”

Louise facepalmed. "ADAM help me, you're serious. Wait, does that mean they have a _Raiment!?_" 

“Huh? No, I was referring to before Bardiel came here. It possessed an Evangelion and then I killed it.” Yui Ikari answered, before Yui Ayanami cut in with a disapproving headshake.

“I think the version that’s here is the one _I_ killed,” Yui Ayanami huffed, making a grimacing expression, like she’d just tasted something foul. “Something about the description makes me recall the disgusting taste of horrible blue fungus.”

“... Either way, Bardiel is kind of a non-issue if you don’t let it absorb the wrong organic, so whatever. Anyway, let’s just revise all our plans from ‘shoot to kill’ to ‘shoot to thrill’,” Ikari finished, drawing a snicker from Ayanami.

“Really? AC/DC references? You know none of them will get it,” Ayanami said, an impish smile on her face.

“You got it, and so did Kaworu. Shinji… I am so, so sorry that your caretaker never introduced you to a cooler instrument than a fucking cello. You would have gotten so much ass if you picked up the electric guitar,” Ikari sighed, grinning even though her mock regret.

“... I’m starting to hate this family,” Shinji deadpanned from where he was all but buried beneath Rei and Kaworu, who were currently just glaring at each other too hard to even pretend to pay attention. “... Also I can’t feel my legs anymore.”

"You get used to it," Louise suggested. "Also, am I the only one using a brain cell right now? Sheffield Rei traumatized Tabby so bad that she won't even use her _actual fucking name_ anymore! You having the best impression of your husband doesn't count when you're all unreliable megalomaniacs! Armisael by all accounts is dangerous! Why won't you see it!?"

“... Armisael isn’t _that_ dangerous,” Ramiel pointed out idly, “just gross and clingy. I just hate her a lot because, again, gross and clingy.”

“... Also if she were really a threat, wouldn’t we have heard of some great calamity by now?” Henrietta spoke up, finally deciding to put a stop to this nonsense. “Louise Francoise, really. I admire your desire to avenge what has been wronged, but could you _please_ calm down before you drag three, maybe _four_ countries into total war?”

“... Four?”

“Emperor Albrecht has decided that, even though we cancelled our engagement, he would rather not get on the bad side of a nation carrying not one, but seven nation destroying living superweapons in its employ. Ergo, he has pledged full military support of Tristain should we go to war,” Henrietta answered.

“... ah.” 

“... So no murder?” Ramiel asked, looking around the room and pouting. “Dammit.”

Louise hugged Ramiel. "It's okay. We can murder them later. They're surely plotting evil things as we speak."

<>

“...”

“...”

“...”

Rei II, Rei I, and Rei (Armisael) stared at each other, unblinking. None of them moved. Not a single twitch.

Finally, Rei I slipped up and blinked, followed by a loud “Dammit!” and giggles from Armisael, while Rei II (formerly known as Sheffield) just smirked as Armisael’s giggles caused her to break eye contact.

“I win again,” Rei II murmured, folding her hands in front of her face in a direct parody of Gendo’s signature pose.

Gendo, meanwhile, just grumbled as he worked through the church’s financial reports, angrily muttering about incompetent accountants and idiotic embezzlers not even trying to hide their purchases of booze, illicit drugs, and prostitutes.

Meanwhile, Asuka just lounged about in a nice summer dress, standing on the balcony and soaking in the sun, finally free from the stresses of the end of the world and now finally, _finally_ able to just live out her days in a beautiful Mediterranean climate. She was gonna get _such_ a nice tan.

_”So, not to break the mood or anything, but like… I’m getting kinda hungry. When’s lunch?”_ Bardiel asked, covering Asuka’s left arm and making something of a pseudo body that stood next to Asuka and mirrored her pose. 

“I dunno, whenever Vittorio gets up here,” Asuka shrugged, deciding to go sit down and relax instead of leaning on the balcony railing. “Ahhh… y’know what… fuck the other universe. Everything there was gray and depressing and awful. I’m staying here no matter what and I’m _never_ going back to NERV _or_ WILLE ever again.”

_”Cool. Me neither. Being stuck in an eyeball and dormant for ten years was terrible.”_

"Ah, there you all are!" was Vittorio's jovial greeting. "I hope none of you mind, but I brought a guest here. A most lovely find, I assure you!" 

"I'm a married woman, your Holiness," came the dry reply of Karin Desiree as she entered the room behind the young Pope. "May I ask why... you...." Her voice trailed off as her gaze slid from Gendo, to the Ree, and finally stopped at Asuka. "...Grandmother?" 

“Ex_cuse_ me!?” Asuka shrieked in abject confusion, wondering just _what the fuck_ Karin was talking about.

“... No way. No. Fucking. Way,” Rei II groaned as she buried her face in her hands shaking her head despondently as she sank to her knees. “No wonder the little pink one felt like Asuka! She’s Asuka’s goddamn descendant!”

“... I….” Karin looked about helplessly, seeking answers that would not come. Gendo just sighed, pinching his brow and muttering something incomprehensible but sounded quite accusatory towards someone named Yui. “... What is happening.”

“I wish I knew,” Vittorio responded brightly, the smile on his face clearly displaying the internal anguish he felt. “Seems like these days nobody knows anything and everything is falling apart! What’s next, God himself tears open the sky and denounces humanity and decides he wishes to destroy the world?”

<>

Far away, deep in a cave behind long unexplored lands, in a lush forest surrounded by high mountains…

Something stirred.

Pale, almost rubbery flesh stretched and warped as its owner awoke.

Crimson eyes snapped open.

The bulbous, decapitated skull began to bubble and writhe, shrinking in on itself as it rose up and tore through the rock and dirt above.

Shining wings spread out and began to glow, rippling with orange light.

A smile split the face of the goddess made flesh, tender and loving, yet ominous all the same.

And thus the goddess spoke:

_”Ikari-kun. I’m coming.”_


	40. Chapter 40

“Okay, so here’s how this is going to go,” Louise began, tapping the chalkboard and really wishing that they could have come up with a better plan. “Step 1: We all make for Romalia in a suitably dramatic manner. Probably with lots of ominous chanting and turning the sky weird colors. Step 2: We call out that bitch Sheffield for a fight. Step 3:....”

Louise sighed and pinched her brow before continuing.

“Step 3: We have a cinematic yet ultimately pointless battle, Henrietta donates a couple thousand ecu to the church to keep Vittorio from freaking out too much, and Yui and Yui get to go fulfil Gendo’s dreams of a twincest threesome.”

“... So I _do_ get to blow shit up!” Ramiel cheered, pumping her fists into the air and grinning. “I see this as a complete win! Hooray for explosions and sex!”

“.... I… am really starting to regret coming here,” Shinji sighed, rubbing his forehead as he stood awkwardly between his mom and other mom. “I don’t really… _want_ to blow things up…”

Louise sighed. "I'm almost tempted to invoke bad luck to get them to take me seriously, but it's likely to just blow up in my own face." She crossed her arms. "Hey Shinji? Would you do it for Rei?" 

“... Well, from what Kaworu says I _did_ almost entirely destroy the world for Rei, so… I guess…?” Shinji raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, feeling kind of sheepish for, again, literally destroying the world. He supposed that he should have felt horrified, but with everything so far away, it was really hard to feel bad for a world that pretty much only had one good thing in it.

"Yeah, that works," sighed Louise. "As long as nothing manages to blindside us out there, we should be fine." 

Yui Ikari poked her head in. "Hey, just a heads up, I gave Siesta a proper Core, so don't get distracted by teleporting maids, okay? Thanks!" She withdrew. 

"Correction," Louise snarked, "As long as nothing manages to blindside us _around here,_ we should _also_ be fine." 

“Ah… Louise Francoise? Do I need to be here for this?” Henrietta asked, raising her hand awkwardly. “I think only Azariel needs to be there for this, and I really must get back to the palace soon- Agnes is already mad that I keep sneaking out, and this incident will surely convince her to never let me out of her sight again.”

Louise blinked. "Oh hey Henrietta. You're still here?" 

"_Yes,_ Louise Françoise," Henrietta snarked. "Did you manage to _forget_ about me?" 

Louise flushed. "Yes, well, having to herd a pair of mad scientists, a bunch of Angels, and ADAM knows what else, robs more attention than an entire week of politicking. Sorry Henrietta." 

Henrietta looked askance at her oldest friend. "Louise Françoise... How long, exactly, have you been awake again? You look tired, if not physically, then at least mentally. And you're so _pale!_ Are you okay?" 

Louise considered for a moment. "That's... Let's see... That amount... And then... Carry the two... About nine days now. Why?" 

Henrietta stared in horror. "_Louise Françoise!_ How do you still _function!_ You're going to collapse any _moment!_" 

Louise rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Well... My body still works. Should continue working for longer." She pulled Henrietta aside, into a far-off, corner, and was biting her lip. "I... _may have..._ let myself be convinced by the mad scientists to hook me up with a Core. Don't tell Ramiel." 

If anything, Henrietta's horror deepened. "You did _**what!?**_" 

Louise shushed her friend. "Henrietta!" 

The Princess grabbed her hand. "Do you realize what you've done!?" she whispered furiously. 

"Yes," Louise said in a hollow tone. "I have made a deal with the Beast to uphold a promise." She looked out of the window. "Months ago, Ramiel promised me that she would stay with me for eternity. I didn't dare tell her that I was mortal. Now..." She smiled sadly. "Now, I don't have to." 

Henrietta looked at her friend with pity. "Louise Françoise..." 

"I don't need _pity,_" Louise spat. "It was inevitable, really. I'm becoming more and more Angelic every day. This just accelerated that process." 

Henrietta sighed. "What you need is _sleep,_" she instructed firmly. "Even Angels can run out of energy. Just look at Tabris. If you want to go through with this mad plan, then the _least_ you can do is get some _sleep._"

Louise hesitated. "I'll look into it," she said finally. 

"Not 'look into it'," Henrietta said firmly. "Actually _sleep._" She narrowed her eyes. "Or _else._"

"Or else _what?_ challenged Louise. "You'll tell on me?"

"If that's what it takes," Henrietta said, "I'll tell your Familiar." 

“You _wouldn’t_,” Louise hissed, somehow impossibly going even paler as her eyes widened in horror. “Henrietta do _not_ tell Ramiel!”

“Tell me what?” Ramiel asked, hovering over Louise’s shoulder and wondering why Louise and Henrietta seemed to be arguing. 

“Nothing!” Louise quickly backpedaled, not wanting Ramiel to know a single damned thing.

"You need to tell her eventually," Henrietta noted, a smirk playing on her lips, "but I might postpone telling her your follies if you _head the fuck off to bed right fucking now!_" 

Louise eeped and dashed off. Henrietta facepalmed. "I swear," she muttered, "she gets that from her mother..."

<>

“It seems Yui is making her move,” Gendo muttered, idly moving his rook to capture Vittorio’s knight. “Check.”

“.... Ah. Perhaps I should evacuate the church, then. Perhaps all of the city?” Vittorio asked, voice tinged with apprehension as he searched for a way out- both from the predicament he was in at the moment, and the predicament looming in the near future.

“Perhaps. Though, I may be able to halt the enemy advance before it begins if I do something none of them expect…” Gendo hummed, paused, and thought about it. “... Rei.”

“Yes Commander?” three voices spoke up simultaneously from where Rei I, Rei II, and Armisael were engrossed in some kind of three person boardgame- Chinese checkers, it looked like to Gendo, though how there was anything Chinese in approximately post-medieval to early renaissance fantasy Europe when China didn’t exist was a mystery to him.

“... Rei II.”

“Yes Commander.”

“When Yui’s forces arrive, take them to the mountain resort up north. The one that Cardinal Emporio has so kindly vacated for us and donated to the church.”

“Yes Commander.”

“... Let Yui still come here, though. I have my own plans.”

“I didn’t want to hear that, Commander.”

“... Indeed, I also didn’t want to hear that,” Vittorio muttered and pulled a face, moving a single piece on the board to take his king out of check.

“Checkmate.”

“....” Vittorio sighed. “Were I a lesser man in a lesser station, the words I would say would cast me straight to Hell.”


	41. Chapter 41

“Miss Rei, are you… sure you do not wish for more clothing?” Josette asked, furrowing her brow and staring at the third occupant of the carriage. “Surely, you cannot be comfortable in such… skimpy clothing?”

“... I am… fine,” Rei murmured, looking down at the orange and white plugsuit that covered her body… and then over at Mari, who was wearing some kind of nun’s habit. It seemed wrong on the girl, especially since the pilot kept _sniffing her_. “... Pilot Makinami, please stop sniffing me.”

“But you smell like LCL~” she whined, clinging tighter to Rei and sniffing harder.

“... Considering that I pulled myself together and formed out of disembodied and dismembered Evangelion parts, I am somehow not surprised,” Rei deadpanned.

“... Uh,” Mari actually seemed to be taken aback at that statement, surprising Josette, who thought that Mari actually couldn’t be surprised through that endlessly cheerful and almost sinfully lustful exterior.

“I am not the Rei that you most probably met before the battle with the Tenth Angel.” Rei answered the unspoken question, her expression never wavering beyond a flat stare as she flexed her arm and held back a tiny wince from how the muscles pulled against her still healing scars. “I am Rei Ayanami, the first Rei Ayanami. The soul of Evangelion Unit-00.”

Mari tilted her head. "Evangelions use human souls? Huh. I never actually knew that." She leaned forward, grinning eagerly. "Soooo~ooo, what's it _like,_ being an Evangelion?" 

“Imagine being constantly very, very angry, and wanting to destroy everything that makes you angry. Forever. Also you are in constant agony due to the metal restraints and supports stabbing through most of your body. And even though you cannot move your body in the slightest due to the lack of constant energy, you are constantly aware of every last thing in the area.” Rei deadpanned, gritting her teeth as her eyes glowed in response to her heightened emotion. “In short, it is as close to literal, actual Hell as humans are capable of creating.”

Mari swallowed. "I... Wait." She furrowed her brow. "I mean... Unit-02 _was_ glad to be released from her restraints, I didn't realize it was this bad..." She pulled the startled Eva-girl into a hug. "I'm so fucking sorry." 

“... It is… okay.” Rei awkwardly patted Mari’s head, not really sure what to do. “... I am… more or less freed from all that now. Though, I am still recovering from, again, growing out of a dismembered pile of body parts.”

Mari tilted her head again, in thought. "I wonder. Do you happen to have a Beast Mode like Niigoki did?" Her smile grew a bit lewder. "Or do you simply go Beast in bed?" 

“If I did, I have not been able to access such a feature. Unit-00 was a prototype and thus did not have much in the way of extra features. I am… also… somewhat regrettably… still a virgin,” Rei muttered, blushing slightly and looking away from Mari. “... despite my best efforts for the two or so weeks when I was alive and not stuck inside of an abominable flesh golem.”

Josette, who had been blushing deeper and deeper every time Mari opened her mouth, finally decided to give her own input. "S-stop talking about s-such l-lewd and s-sinful topics a-at once!" She hid her head in her hands. "L-lewd..." 

“Apologies,” Rei deadpanned, blinking slowly and making it very clear that she really did not care about things like “social stigma” or “inappropriate topics”.

“Sorry Master~” Mari snickered, grinning even wider at how flushed Josette had gotten. “Though, if you’re curious, you’re free to join in~”

_"L-LEWD!!!"_

<>

Asuka found herself introspecting, staring up at the full moons as they shone over the city of Romalia. Two moons, not one. Imagine that.

Idly, she flexed her arm and watched as the pulsing blue lines of Bardiel’s fungal infection spread down its length, glowing faintly and following the network of her veins, filling her with strength as her body began to change, mutate and grow. On a whim, she halted the process, sighing as she sat down by the decorative fountain in the church courtyard. 

“Bardiel?”

_”Yeah?”_

“Be honest with me. Am I a loser?”

_“Well, from what I saw in your mind when I was possessing that abomination robot… eh…. Kinda yeah? I mean, you were pretty cool and all but getting shown up by a weenie whose only skill was getting really pissed off and then getting almost murdered and thrown into a coma while the weenie turned into a god is pretty loser-ish. Not as bad as me, but… ouch.”_

“... Yeah, that did kinda suck. Baka-Shinji even fucked up the planet when he left too… fucker. The Commander went fucking nuts, food is pretty much impossible to find anywhere in Asia, and there’s fucking angel corpses and Eva units goddamn everywhere… but here? It’s pretty much paradise!” Asuka grinned, eyes glittering for a moment before she sat back and groaned. “And all I had to do to get pulled into a portal in the middle of a fight. Mein gott, whatever is going on over there, WILLE is probably getting shat all over… I mean, everything back there is shit, but Misato at least deserves to not die.”

_”I’m gonna be honest, I actually have no idea how to help you with that. I mean, I’m the loser of the family, remember? I haven’t managed to do jack shit, even when I was possessing the abomination robot and blowing shit up. Even Iruel was better than me, back in that other timeline.”_

“Other timeline? Oh yeah, Rei mentioned something about how we were from some kind of alternate reset timeline after the events of hers… Man, I _hate_ that kind of weird garbage. Three fucking degrees and it still fucks with my head.”

_”Tell me about it. I mean, I know enough metaphysics to know how to do stuff with an AT-Field, but solo evolution and bio-engineering is my thing. I have no clue how Leliel was so good with it.”_

“Speaking of Leliel,” Rei II spoke up from behind Asuka, ignoring the shrieks of surprise that both she and Bardiel made as they turned around to see Rei standing atop the fountain, cloak billowing out behind her in an invisible breeze. “I believe I have a solution to both of your woes. Come. Yui Ikari approaches, and if we are to put up any kind of fight, we must prepare. I will open the Dirac Sea. And within it… the weapon that will bring us…”

Rei paused and tapped her chin. 

“... Well, I wouldn’t call it victory but it will make the entire play-fight much more fair. I think. Hopefully.”

“... What a voice of confidence you are,” Asuka deadpanned.

“I do my best.”


	42. Chapter 42

It felt pain. A curious kind of pain that rippled through its body and made the cracks left by the curious being known as Ikari Shinji throb with agony. 

Temporal distortion, it thought to itself, the world itself warping through fractured dimensions and resetting to a previous state, still echoing with the catastrophic events of the timeline before.

It ignored the distortion, retreating further into the space between dimensions, keeping its existence resolutely held together as its inverted AT-Field flexed and crackled. 

When Ikari Shinji had torn out of its body, it had almost damaged its core beyond repair.

But.

Almost was not an absolute.

It had hidden itself away in false space, the Dirac sea that the Lilim had named it. The space between spaces, the bridge between reality and imagination. In retrospect, it probably should have tried a different way of establishing communication with the Lilim. Appearing the way it did, when the Lilim were already so terrified of large floating objects suddenly appearing in real-space…

Well, it had just been so excited.

Foolish, utterly foolish.

The being known as Leliel twisted as its false body rippled, a dimensional duplicate of a previously absorbed thing appearing in the same manner as its previous incarnation.

Ah. Unit-04. How nice to see you again. Have you met Unit-04?

Leliel made a humorless chuckle, echoing the sound patterns it had recorded from its brief contact with the mind of Ikari Shinji.

With time reset, and its presence unnecessary, Leliel began to realize that its contact with the mind of Ikari Shinji had given it a curious taste of freedom. Of free will. The ability to completely ignore the mild compulsion that made it want to reabsorb the progenitor and wipe the planet clean of Lilim such that its brethren could roam free. The ability to think, feel, have emotion.

It would have liked to have the energy to accelerate its self repair, though, given that its own S2 engine was barely hanging on and producing enough to keep it alive.

Ah. But there was hope.

Time went non-linear for a moment, and Leliel took full advantage of such a moment, twisting through dimensional configurations and repairing its core by absorbing what might be described as a _wave_ of quantum energy harvested from the spaces between realities.

And then… oh ho ho…

Its presence was drawn towards a hole in reality, an inverted spike of the light of one’s soul punching through dimensional space until it penetrated into the Dirac sea and sent out tendrils of searching light.

Leliel took advantage of the moment.

Swirling about and letting its pseudo-physical self go, it shoved the two Unit-04s towards the tendrils, letting them wrap around and draw them out.

And in the process…

Leliel freed itself from the anchors of one reality, and emerged in a new realm, one previously untouched by Lilim, one echoing with the souls of its brethren.

Oh yes, it could do something _fun_ here.

Something very, _very_ fun.

<>

“This… could be a problem,” Rei II muttered, watching as not one, but _two_ Unit-04s rose from the shadowy sea before her, followed shortly by the zebra striped orb that was the dimensional “shadow” of the being known as Leliel.

“... Wondergirl? What the _fuck_ is that?” Asuka asked, while Bardiel shifted uncomfortably on her arm.

“Leliel. A nonphysical being that resides in a pocket dimension known as the Dirac sea… I… I thought it was _dead_.”

_A L I V E_

Leliel projected, its shadow shifting as the swirling patch of black on the ground shrank down into a single circle, the dimensional shadow of the angel descending to the ground before Rei, twisting and rippling until it took on the shape of-

“Are you shitting me!?” Asuka spat, almost doing a spit take if not for the lack of drink in her mouth. “Why does _every single Angel that isn’t Bardiel_ turn into _you!?_”

“.... At this point, I don’t want to know,” Rei sighed, palming her face and staring at the form of Leliel, whose shadow had taken on the appearance of Rei herself, colored stark white save for a few “modesty” preserving stripes of black crossing over the false body.

_”Heyo, big sis from another timeline!”_ Bardiel chirped, waving a tendril of blue goo as she grew out of Asuka’s shoulder and made a decent approximation of Asuka’s face (she’d never say it, but thank god Bardiel didn’t turn into _another_ Rei clone).

**Bardiel. Good to see you again.**

Asuka flinched slightly, not at all enjoying the sudden rush of _meaning_ shoved into her brain via her left core/eyeball. She shuddered, watching as the shadow of Leliel reached out and contacted her own, merging with it until she felt the sensation of her hair being ruffled, despite the zebra striped Rei in front of her not doing anything but smiling and floating half an inch over the ground.

**Asuka. But from the reset. I see. How is- ah. Shame. The Ikari Shinji I would have liked to meet again is dead. I see. Ah. But the one that ascended is alive and well. I shall speak with that one. I wish to learn more from him.**

“...” Asuka furrowed her brow and glared as Leliel’s false body smiled wider in a way that was distinctly- “Oh ew! Don’t tell me you wanna f-”

“You shall do no such thing!” Rei II burst out, echoed by Rei I and, strangely enough, Armisael.

“...” The three Reis stared at each other, then at Leliel, then at Asuka, who just turned away and made disgusted gagging noises.

“... Er,” Rei II blushed and looked away. “... I suppose… I shouldn’t entertain those thoughts anymore, being twenty four to Shinji’s fourteen.”

“You’ve tainted me with your lechery you old hag!” Rei I groused, blushing heavily and groaning into her hands. “I didn’t want to fffff-”

“Fuck?” Armisael asked with small smirk.

“- that! I didn’t want to fuck Ikari until _you_ realized you wanted to bone him while _she_ was trying to impregnate us with weird Angel stuff!” Rei I hissed, glaring at Rei II hatefully.

“He’s fairly attractive,” Armisael murmured, twirling the tip of her tail around her finger. “Though, I think I would rather bang his hot mom.”

“... I’m just… I’m just gonna go over there and work on getting the evas functioning,” Asuka sighed, turning decidedly green around the gills as the assorted Rei began to discuss among each other the merits of forming a harem centered around the Ikari family.

Blech.

Utterly disgusting.

“Alright Bardiel, let’s get to work!” Asuka grinned, cracking her knuckles as her left eye shone with brilliant blue, minds and bodies in sync as she reached out with both her arms and _engulfed_ both Evangelions in a tide of blue.


	43. Chapter 43

"Leliel is here," Louise said idly, before pausing. "Who the Hell is Leliel and why the _fuck_ do I know that they're here?" 

“Leliel is here?” Ramiel asked, idly walking up behind Louise and resting her chin on Louise’s shoulder. “Huh. So she is.”

Ramiel paused.

She blinked.

“.... And now Leliel is _actually_ here,” Ramiel deadpanned as said angel appeared before them, avatar smiling as its true body writhed on the ground and encircled Ramiel’s shadow.

“Oof! Hey Leliel, good to see you too!” Ramiel chuckled, flexing her AT-Field gently so Leliel’s tight hug wouldn’t squeeze her too hard. “How’s life been?”

**Fairly well. Had to regenerate after nearly dying to a temporal reset but the portal that Lilim clone made was quite useful.**

“Ah, so _that’s_ why Zeruel said she could sense the Dirac sea opening last night. Say, do you know what that weird AT-Field pattern is? It felt like two of the same thing before merging with… wait…” Ramiel paused and squinted at Leliel, furrowing her brow in thought “.... Is that… no way… that’s _Bardiel’s_ AT-Field! I thought that slimy lil bitch fucked up and got rid of hers!”

**Did. Provided the means to give it back. Permanently fused with abomination robots and angry redhead Lilim, but seems to be happy. Angry redhead a little less happy about being structurally tied to a giant robot again, working on figuring out how to use AT-Field to compress body back into Lilim sized dimensions.**

"See," Louise snarked, "I told you not to underestimate Sheffield. Hello Leliel. Are you going to be our enemy?" She unconsciously flared an AT-field in a probing manner. 

**Ah. You are not of my race. But still have the light. Interesting. No, not enemy. Sheffield? Ah. Rei II. Curious. Two beings designated Rei II. Suppose the distinction necessary. No matter. Rei II has plan, not threat, though. Wishes to stage a mock-fight. Destroy mountains instead of picturesque Romalia.**  
Leliel didn’t move as she spoke, though her shadow reached out and Louise felt a hand ruffling her hair. “... Okay, that’s just disturbing,” she muttered, rubbing her head and finding nothing there. “... Can you just go get a normal human form? Please?”

**From who? Ah. Yui Ikari. Also known as the hot milf by Armisael. Mother of- well. Other mother of Ikari Shinji. Not the Shinji I wished to procreate with, but still acceptable as a secondary. His mind is quite nice. I rather like the new one too.**

“... Hey uh, not to cut in, but I already got dibs on Ikari. And Zeruel’s got dibs on the- well I guess she called off her dibs because Ayanami Yui’s just human. And our Rei II and Tabris called dibs on Shinji. Also, Master… do you have something to tell me?” Ramiel asked, suddenly turning on Louise and crossing her arms sternly, tapping her foot against the ground whilst Leliel surreptitiously slipped away to go flirt with and/or beg for a human body from Yui Ikari.

Louise nervously tapped her fingertips together. "Well, I... How do I put it... I sort of didn't have enough hours to herd all of you, so... I may have let myself be tempted by the Ikaris..." She fingered something under her shirt. "And... They may have.... hookedmeupwithaCore." She smiled guiltily. "So yes that happened pleasedontbemad okay?" 

“.... I…” Ramiel frowned, blinking rapidly as she tried to process Louise’s words. “.... You…. When I said for _eternity_, this isn’t really what I had in mind.” She shook her head and hugged Louise, crushing the smaller girl tight against her breast and enveloping her in the warmth of her AT-Field. “But you know what, this is fine too. I could never be mad at you, Master. Disappointed that you didn’t tell me earlier, but never mad. Not in a thousand, million years.”

"I..." Louise sniffled. "I was so worried that you'd hate me for that moment of weakness..." She worried her lip. "...teach me how to use it properly?" 

"Teach you to use what properly, Chibi-Louise?" a passing Eleonore asked idly. "Did you finally bite the bullet and had a Core organized for yourself?" 

Louise spluttered. "Wh- You- _what!?_ What do you mean, _finally?_ Are you telling me that you _have_ one, Big Sis?" 

Eleonore stared. "Well, of course I do. I was the first one who volunteered when Professor Ikari offered to try creating one. Something about a 'Lilim Ancestry', whatever a Lilim is." She idly flexed her AT-field. "Cattleya will be given one when her synchronization with Zeruel deepens. I must say, though, this enforcement of will onto reality is a thing of marvel... what?" She blinked. "Chibi-Louise, why are you staring at me like that?" 

Louise was gaping incredulously. "Did you say," she asked slowly, "_Lilim_ Ancestry?" 

Eleonore blinked back. "Well, yes. That's what Professor Ikari said. Why?" She frowned. "Is there something wrong with us?" 

Louise took a few steps back and slumped onto an armchair. "Oh, no _wonder_ Shinji and Sheffield kept comparing me to Asuka Sohryu," she groaned. "I probably _am_ related to her, aren't I?" 

"One of Mother's grandparents _was_ named Asuka," Eleonore mused, sitting down. "How relevant do you think it is?" 

"There's no coincidences," Louise recited, "Only enemy action. The only question is, is it going to inspire any revelations?" She looked over. "Ramiel?" 

Ramiel shook silently, an inscrutable expression on her face. 

“No wonder… no wonder I liked you so much just from the start!” Ramiel finally burst out, laughing as she squeezed Louise and rocked back and forth. “Your soul was calling out to me from the very beginning and I never even noticed it!”

"Now kiss," suggested Eleonore impishly. 

Louise spluttered. "What? No! I promised my first kiss would be with Tabby, no offense, Ramiel." 

“Tabby is pretty cute,” Ramiel nodded, not at all feeling put out. “Though, technically speaking, didn’t you directly kiss my Core when we first met?”

Louise flushed. "T-that doesn't count! I-it was a formality f-for completing the contract, th-that's all!" 

“Aww, but you _did_ place your lips on my most intimate of parts, the very thing that houses my soul, Master~” Ramiel purred, draping herself over Louise and snickering lightly as she traced circles on Louise’s back. 

" You- I- But-" was Louise’s eloquent reply as she was flushing more and more. "That's unfair!" she wailed. "How could I face Tabby now that I've been more intimate with my Familiar than with her! Er, I mean..." Louise trailed off as she registered two things. 

One, she had said all of that aloud, and her big sister and familiar were waggling their eyebrows at her. 

Two, the very object of her discussion was standing in the doorway, blushing bright pink and averting her eyes. 

“... Lewd,” Tabitha deadpanned, rolling her eyes as Ramiel jumped off of Louise and dived through the window, calling encouragements as she shattered through the glass.

“... That’s the _third_ window this week,” Louise sighed, blushing and covering her face in her hands, groaning about her lot in life until a pair of arms wrapped around her and a pair of lips pressed against her cheek.

“Is okay," Tabitha murmured as Louise blushed heavily. "...Love you."

Louise turned, gazing at the other girl in wonderment. "...I love you too, Tabitha."

As the two pairs of lips inched ever closer, Eleonore followed in Ramiel’s footsteps and dove out of the window, leaving the adorable pan-lesbians to their first kiss.

<>

“Okay. I’ve… lost track of how many tries we’ve had so I’m gonna just call this Trial three hundred and…. Thirty five?”

_”Four hundred and six, actually. We’ve been trying for the last two days. Can we just give up already?”_ Bardiel deadpanned, core pulsing as Asuka began flexing the double layered AT-Field that she now projected. 

“Look, I know you like being a giant four armed robot, but I wanna actually be able to _enjoy_ my permanent vacation instead of being a giant city destroying robot.” 

"I think you're approaching it wrong," Rei I mused from their left shoulder. "You're trying to fold a three-dimensional space into a three-dimensional space, from what I can see. Am I right, old hag?" 

"I swear," Rei II grumbled from Asuka's right shoulder. "You're just fucking with me at this point, aren't you?" She raised her voice slightly. "She's right though, you two. You're trying to do the biological semi-merge thing Bardiel usually does with you, but what you _should_ be doing is slide your form on the γ-axis, and work from there." 

"I thought it was the ω-axis?" Armisael asked, frowning. "If the basis is derived from Ramiel, then you should go through _at least_ six dimensions..." 

“... Literally neither of us know what the _fuck_ that means,” Asuka groaned, rubbing her forehead and trying not to feel weird about the fact that she had four hands rubbing her temples now given that she was literally part of the Eva. 

_”Lil sis, I know you’re a bio-focus like me so you know that I can’t understand the same math.”_ Bardiel sighed, flexing her AT-Field and wondering exactly what they were doing wrong.

“Y’know what, let’s just… let’s just try again,” Asuka sighed, shaking her head as she sat down in the lotus position and flexed her double AT-Field once more, connecting deeper with Bardiel until she managed to….

Shrink down into a human sized Evangelion.

“... Okay, that’s… closer?” Asuka shrugged, looking down at herself and sighing. “I mean, I’m not sexy anymore but at least I can like… actually sit down for dinner and stuff again.”

**Try doing this instead**

Leliel idly flicked Asuka’s forehead as she appeared, sending a spike of pain through Asuka’s core for a moment as knowledge flooded into her mind. “Also, hello again. Rei II, could you tell Gendo that Yui and Yui are both very excited to see him again? Rei I… are you aware that there’s another version of yourself off in Tristain?”

“... What?” Rei I asked dumbly.

“What.” Rei II blinked twice, suddenly knowing _exactly_ what Leliel was talking about. 

“... Oh so _that’s_ why I felt Wondergirl off in the… wait. How many fucking Evas are there on this fucking planet!?” Asuka asked, suddenly aware that there were… one, two, technically four...five… six???

“... Okay I can feel five evas including me being two and a really weak signature that feels like a dead one????” Asuka looked over at Rei II. “Feel like explaining?”

“... That would probably be what little remains of the other Asuka’s Unit-02. I imagine that the only thing left of it is the skeletal remains and maybe some armor plating.”

Rei I frowned, pulsing her AT-field. "Oh that is so not fair," she complained. "The other me is probably due to time reset, but I'm... Pretty sure that _she_ is still an EVA! Fuck! That's blatantly unfair!" 

Rei II rose. "I'll tell him," she groused, "And then sod off from there. Figures the crazy women would... Ugh." She disappeared, for about ten seconds, and then returned, looking sick. "He knows," she informed Leliel dryly. "Do you happen to have any brain bleach by any chance?" 

“Nope. Arael probably would. Armisael, you have Arael’s soul, correct?” Leliel asked the wormy angel, who simply nodded with a smile on her face. “Great. If little Louise and that milf Yui are more powerful than expected, we can resurrect our fallen siblings to do battle with them. Not that I really think it’ll be necessary, but just in case.”

“Got it big sis!” Armisael saluted, then paused. “... Huh, I just realized that you being alive is a pretty good explanation for why I never got _your_ soul.”

“Indeed.”


	44. Chapter 44

"So." 

Louise looked over the gathered people. Cattleya was standing next to Zeruel, not even leaning on anyone, a gentle but wide smile on her face. Azariel was there on her own, Henrietta electing to remain in the palace for this particular mission. 

Yui and Yui were giggling at each other, quietly whispering on topics Louise didn't want to know about. Shinji and Rei were hugging each other, looking lost to the world. Tabris was standing behind them, glowering slightly. 

Eleonore and Ramiel were floating over the gathered, clearly plotting over her love life. Louise rolled her eyes and promised herself to do _something_ about them, as soon as she figured out what exactly that _something_ was. 

Speaking of her love life, as it was, Tabitha was snuggled next to her, sighing in contentment. Louise smiled a slightly dopey smile, before once again addressing the crowd. 

"So. We're all here. I hope we're all prepared? As far as I can tell, we're not actually doing a battle to the death, but it's good to prepare." 

Louise smiled viciously. "No matter what anyone says, though, Sheffield is _mine._"

"I thought you said Tabby was yours?" Eleonore called out, giggling widely. 

Louise flushed. "Yes, well, shut _up,_ big sis," was her eloquent response. "Anyone have any _serious_ questions? Or serious matters they want to bring up before we leave?" 

"I have one." 

Louise eeped and blasted off an Explosion that naturally never connected to anyone. Siesta giggled from behind her. "This never gets old," she offered. "Anyway, some guests showed up at the Academy, and they're pretty insistent on meeting you. Well, only some of you specifically, but still pretty insistent." 

Louise frowned. "What do they look like?" 

Siesta remained impassive. "A Brimiric nun, a Rei, and an unknown Lilim." 

Louise exchanged glances with Tabitha. "Envoy?" she asked. 

"Possible," Tabitha answered. "Trap?" 

"Probable," Louise agreed. "Prepare?" 

Tabitha nodded. She readied her staff as Louise took out her wand. 

"Show them in," Louise commanded. 

Siesta nodded and vanished. A moment later... 

"_That's_ not Sheffield," Louise noted. __

_ _"... Tabby has a twin?" Ramiel asked, waggling her eyebrows with all her might. _ _

_ _"Makinami," Shinji and Rei groaned in unison. _ _

_ _The pink-suited girl, henceforth identified as 'Makinami', lit up. "Puppy-kun! You're alive!" _ _

_ _Yui Ayanami raised her eyebrows. "'Puppy'-kun? Shinji, have you been unfaithful to your Rei?" _ _

_ _As Shinji sputtered frantic denials to an increasingly amused Yui, Makinami simply shrugged and slipped her arm around Rei. "It's okay~," she breathed sultrily and nuzzled the surprised girl. "I'm always willing to share~" _ _

_ _As Makinami was flirting with the increasingly flustered pair (and Zeruel wandered over to flirt straight back), Louise was interrogating the pseudo-Tabitha. Judging by a steadily increasing flush and wandering eyes from all directions, it wasn't going all that well. _ _

_ _That left the Rei. _ _

_ _The Rei who walked up to Ramiel, punched her in the crotch and yelled, "That’s for almost melting me, you angular bitch!" _ _

_ _Ramiel just groaned, flopping bonelessly to the ground and whimpering, eyes crossed from the sudden burst of agony racing through her lower bits. “Fuckin…. Bitch…. I’ll melt you again for that… owww….”_ _

_ _"_You most certainly started it,_" the girl hissed, eyes glowing red and Evangelion armor fluctuating over her body. Then she smiled. "Lucky for you, Sixth Angel, I now consider us even. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go punt the Tenth Angel for eating me without even having the decency to ask me for a _date_ first." She stalked towards her next prey. _ _

_ _Zeruel, having seen what happened to Ramiel, immediately erected her AT-Field at full strength around her, almost daring Rei to punch through it. _ _

_ _“Go ahead and try, you couldn’t get through it before,” Zeruel boasted, absolutely daring Rei to go ahead and try it. Ramiel just raised a middle finger, entirely pissed that she was currently in no state to call dibs._ _

_ _Rei stalked over, considering the absolutely massive shield in front of her. She took a bracing stance... And threw a haymaker. _ _

_ _As the velocity of her punch reached its top speed, the arm _rippled,_ adopting the armor and weight, but not size, of a full-sized Evangelion. A suddenly hyper-dense fist, retaining its already somewhat ridiculous velocity and aided by an AT-field, absolutely _shattered_ the shield in front of the Eva-girl, and hit Zeruel straight in the solar plexus. _ _

_ _Zeruel, shocked by the destruction of her AT-Field, barely had a moment to brace for impact before she found herself flung through a wall. When the dust settled, Zeruel pushed herself up, ignoring the rubble that had piled upon her, and just _stared_ at Rei with stars in her eyes._ _

_ _“I think I’m in love~” Zeruel murmured, blushing heavily and rubbing the spot where Rei had almost pulped her human form._ _

_ _“F-fuuuccckkk… you….” Ramiel hissed, slowly picking herself off the ground and continuing to give Zeruel the finger. “I nearly killed her first! And she punched _me_ first! That means I get dibs!”_ _

_ _Rei gently blew smoke off her fist, before placing her hands on her hips. "And now you get to try and do this _properly,_" she declared. "Day after tomorrow, both of you will dress comfortably, pick me up, and we will have a pleasant evening destroying nearby scenery. After that, _you,_" she pointed at Ramiel, "will get to melt me from pleasure, and _you,_" she pointed at Zeruel, "Will get to eat me, also in the pleasure sense. Understand?" _ _

_ _She glared at them challengingly. _ _

_ _“... I don’t think I’ve ever been more aroused,” Zeruel murmured, nodding slowly in agreement. Ramiel echoed the sentiment, following it up with a lewd grin that was probably far too inappropriate to be shown around polite company._ _

_ _Rei smiled pleasantly. "Excellent, it's a date." She clapped her hands. "So, what is this gathering?" _ _

_ _"Emergent war council," answered Louise, still sporting a fading blush. "Miss Evangelion, would you mind not poaching two of our strongest Angels before the upcoming battle? I do need them not to be distracted by perverted robots." She gave her an evil eye. "And even though I understand your reasoning, would you mind not going around punching people's familiars? It sets a terrible precedent." _ _

_ _"I can get _you_ laid too," was the glib reply. "I got to know this nun..." _ _

_ _Louise flushed. "S-she's my girlfriend's sister!" _ _

_ _"_Twin_ sister," Rei-00 agreed. "Just think of the possibilities~" _ _

_ _"P-pervert!" _ _

_ __ _

<>

"So we're doing battle tomorrow," Rei II noted. "We all prepared?"

She cast her gaze around. An excited Gendo was standing next to a resigned Vittorio. Rei I and Armisael were frenching aggressively; Rei averted her eyes. Asuka, in a semi-Eva form, and Bardiel, in the form of a fungal Asuka head, were face-palming. 

Leliel was making shadow-puppets. 

Karin the Heavy Wind stood there, in the corner, looking incredibly uncomfortable and probably questioning why she was even there. 

Rei II rolled her eyes. Yes, that was about as serious as those dunderheads were all prepared to take this, wasn't it? Once again, Rei entertained the idea of just dumping the lot in a pit of custard and making them duke it out in there. Would at least get _some_ proper entertainment around here. 

Rolling her eyes, she turned and left, heading for the church Vaults. She knew that the little Valliere, at least, would be aiming to kill her. For that, however, she had a... cure, shall we say. 

Sheffield came to a stop in front of the massive vault doors. She didn't bother opening them, electing to just walk through the shadows. 

And within, she beheld her prizes; artifacts from Earth, but more likely from the alternate Earth most of those Angels were from. 

She reached out.... and grasped them, hiding them into her very own pocket dimension. 

Smiling grimly, Sheffield exited the Vault. You'd never know when you can use a Lance or two, after all.


	45. Chapter 45

Two portals of dark manifested on an abandoned resort several dozen miles from Rome. One disgorged four Angels, two Angel-human hybrids, two Angel-Lilim hybrids, two Lilim, three humans, and three Lilim-Evangelions. 

The other ejected two Angels, two Angel-Lilim hybrids, two humans, a Lilim, and an Angel-Lilim-Evangelion symbiosis. 

"Your lineup is kind of lacking," Louise observed. "Do you honestly expect to make any meaningful difference between the lot of you? You couldn't stand a _chance._"

"Counting your trophies before battle is one of the worst mistakes a warrior can do," was Karin's retort from across the battle lines. "...but I do wish I didn't have to battle you again, my little Louise." 

"Oh shit that's Mother," was Eleonore's contribution. "Can we surrender now?" 

Louise narrowed her eyes. "Not a fucking chance." 

"Can we hurry up with this?" asked Rei-00 in a bored tone. "I have a double date tomorrow and I don't want to miss it." 

“Hurrying up!” Ramiel immediately bounced forwards, growing to full size in an instant, flanked by Zeruel and Azariel.

_M U R D E R_

Three AT-Fields rumbled to life, striking the sky with fury such that it became a deep, bloody red. Clouds swirled into existence, the earth shook. Three Evangelion units took to the field, the white and orange Unit-00, and the twin Unit-01s, blasting out their own fields of power and letting the earth _tremble_ with their sheer might.

Tabris just rolled his eyes and waved at Gendo, who just raised his arms in a manner clearly asking “well what can you do?” at the theatrics on display.

Across the field, Leliel grew to full size, a swirling orb of black and white stripes floating above the field as she became the field, a swirling mass of blackened shadows while Armisael erupted outwards, a glowing double helix of singing light. Asuka and Bardiel flexed, letting out a _roar_ as they began to grow, twisting and writhing as armor burst out of her form until her Evangelion roared to life, much larger and much bulkier than any of the other Evangelions, black and white, with a gaping maw and four arms, each one clutching a massive knife that seemed to vibrate in the air.

“... where did you get prog knives?” Rei II asked, floating over Asuka’s shoulder and looking down at the massive titan. 

“They came with the evangelions, wondergirl, _duh_,” Asuka deadpanned. “Now can we start already? A new restaurant opened up today and I wanna make it there in time for lunch.”

“... Um, excuse me?” Shinji called out, raising his hand to get everyone’s attention. “If uh… if none of us are trying to kill each other, I don’t think we have the right setup for that… it takes a lot of power to punch through an AT-Field and if we use that much power we’re probably going to do a lot more damage than we want…”

“Shut up and just do it already! I want to get back with my wife!” Gendo shouted, swiping his arm down like a referee. “Go already!”

**B E G I N**

With that final command from Leliel, all doubt was immediately cast aside as Asuka charged forward with a fierce battlecry, screaming her heart out as all four arms readied their knives and she made a beeline towards Shinji and Yui.

The three titans clashed into combat immediately, while far below, Tabitha held tightly to Louise as they floated up into the air, spellwords tumbling from Louise’s lips as she raised her wand and immediately thrust her will upon the world.

“SACRED VOID! HEAR MY PLEA! I AM THIS WORLD’S LIGHT OF DESTRUCTION! MAKE THE WORLD FALL TO ITS KNEES! FIRE AND THUNDER: HOLY ERUPTION!”

“Thunder and soul, cast from mind. All is silent, all is still. Darkness falls on all mankind. Mind and soul, I cast my will. Echo forth, cast my wonders. Soul infused, tear asunder!” 

A burst of light, so bright that it blotted out the sun. A deafening roar that shook the earth such that it was almost like armageddon. Louise’s holy eruption jetted across the space between her and Sheffield, crashing into the older mage’s sudden shield that tore a hole in space, a beacon of wrongness that swallowed the eruption whole and left nothing behind but for the searing imprint it left on the world.

Far above, Leliel’s shadow burped out a blast of light while her main body rippled with discontent.

_C R U S H_

Azariel, Ramiel, and Zeruel immediately raced for Armisael, their very presence upon the world creating the thunderous roar of an angelic chorus. Ramiel opened up with a barrage of crimson light that seared through the sky, just barely missing the other Angel as Armisael writhed through the air, projecting an AT-Field from one of her cores that softened the ground into magma.

Zeruel fared no better, the sudden strike of her whip-like arms just barely whiffing past Armisael as she dove into the ground with an almighty splash. 

“Where did she go!?” Ramiel shrieked, immediately throwing herself higher into the air as she began blasting craters into the ground with abandon, Zeruel joining her in her efforts as she began using her own eyebeams to tear open the ground.

Azariel simply took a step and _flexed_ her AT-Field.

A sudden blast of cold _snapped_ across the battlefield, icing over everything and halting the battle for an instant as she flash froze the molten rock that Armisael had just barely been in the process of bursting out of, trapping the wormlike angel in place.

“Fffff-!” Tabris shivered as he stepped out behind Gendo, rubbing his arms and desperately wishing he’d brought a jacket. “C-Com-mmander I-ikari. W-we m-may w-want t-to r-retreat t-to a w-warmer sp-spot…”

“Noted,” Gendo nodded, clenching his teeth and suddenly very aware that the clocklike angel had _specifically_ targeted his underwear when it froze the entire goddamn area.

“I’ll deal with you later!” Asuka screamed at Azariel, as she booted Shinji in the ribs, crushing purple armor between her size 800 steel reinforced black and white boot. “Come on Baka-Shinji! Where’s that fucking godlike power, huh!? Too much a fucking weenie to fight me even now!? What happened to blowing up the world to save wondergirl, huh!?”

Whatever Asuka was about to spit next was interrupted by a very large and very angry fist slamming right into her crotch, turning her vitriolic rage into an undignified squeak of agony as she fell over, all four hands clutched over her injury.

“Finally, catharsis,” Rei-00 spoke, completely in sync with the Rei inside of her for once in both of their respective lives. Their moment of smugness was cut off, though, as Armisael finally wiggled free of the frozen rock and _slammed_ into Azariel, connecting to her core with an almighty _CLANG_.

“Ohhh… _shit_,” Ramiel muttered, sighing as Azariel began to scream and flail about, whipping Armisael around until the wormy angel slammed into Rei-00 and knocked her over… directly on top of Asuka.

“Ow! Watch where you’re swinging you idiot!” Asuka complained, groaning as the weight of Rei-00’s angular metal ass crushing her skull only exacerbated the pain of getting punched in the crotch.

“I’m tryiiiiinnnggg!!!” Armisael whined, finally deciding to wrap around Azariel and _squeeze_ toppling the both of them over… directly onto Shinji, who just laid there in defeat and covered his face in his hands. 

“I hate this. I hate this family so much. Why are we even doing this,” he wheezed, shifting his AT-Field slightly so that Azariel’s pointy bits didn’t stab into him too much.

“... This is really just, so pathetic,” Yui Ikari sighed, facepalming as she walked over and picked up both Asuka and Rei-00, flexing her AT-Field and flinging Asuka away. “Honestly, are we all stupid?”

“Probably, considering this entire fight is just a poorly thought up excuse for pre-foreplay with Gendo,” Yui Ayanami spoke up from inside of Yui Ikari’s plug. 

“... Yeah you’re probably right,” Ikari sighed, setting Rei-00 down and watching as Tabitha and Louise made an actual effort to reduce Rei II to a smear of charred atoms.

“Thunder thunder thunder! Burn and die! Crush them all with sky asunder! Heaven’s cry!” Louise shouted, sending bolts of arcing lightning towards Rei II who parried and dodged, thrusting out her AT-Field to absorb the blows until Louise snapped out with her own field and canceled it out.

“Fire rain and heavens split. Death, destruction, silence falls. From both ends, the candle lit. Block the pain with sundered walls. Through fire and flame, the journeyman goes. Through mountains deep and castles plundered. Iron will, deflect my woes. Thunder split and eyes of wonder. Stop the wheel, nothing amiss. BLACKENED SKIES: WORLD ABYSS!”

Rei II took back the flow of the battle in an instant, throwing open a swirling black void that overtook Louise in an instant, only the quickest blast of a wordless explosion saving Tabitha from the same fate, tossing the blue haired girl away before she was swallowed as well.

“LOUISE!” Tabitha screamed, reaching out fruitlessly as Louise disappeared into the Dirac sea. “GIVE HER BACK! GIVE! HER! BACK!”

A wordless scream of anguish howled over the field as Tabitha unleashed her rage, bottled up for years and years until it erupted into a howling storm of ice and snow that shredded the land into pieces with the sheer force of her will.

“You took her away from me… you took away the best thing in my life…. HAVEN’T YOU TAKEN ENOUGH!?” Tabitha screamed, overwhelming Rei II in an instant with her rage, burying the older woman in ice until nothing could move, her mouth blocked with ice and her AT-Field unable to shatter through the ice faster than it built up.

“Give her back. Give her back, _right now_,” Tabitha hissed, fashioning a dagger from ice and holding it to Rei II’s throat, hot tears trailing down her face as tiny sobs wracked her body. “_Give her back or I’ll kill you myself_!”

Rei II only glared, flexing her AT-Field once more as she pulled out her last resort. A wordless flex of her magic broke the seal and in an instant, the Lance of Longinus erupted into existence, its massive form growing to size and slamming into Tabitha, throwing her away as the butt of the shaft crashed into her chest and knocked her out.

Rei II let out a shuddering breath as she shattered the ice around her, gasping for air and doubling over as she hacked out the ice that had gotten into her throat. “F-fuck. Didn’t… didn’t want to have to do that.”

Silently, she replaced the Lance back into its pocket dimension and looked over at the crumpled form of Tabitha. 

“... Oops, I appear to have broken her ribs,” she deadpanned, biting her lip and wondering if she could heal the damage before Louise inevitably tore her way out of Leliel’s Dirac sea.

Wait what was that chanting?

“-ower echoes in the blackest night! THE WORLD IS MINE! TIME ABYSS!”

“Wha-”

And everything went still.

Louise panted and gasped as she clawed her way out of Leliel’s shadowy orb, faint and trembling as she just barely managed to float down to the ground. “Tabby? Tabby!?” she called out, stumbling over to Tabitha and letting out a low moan of despair.

“Oh no… no no no no NO NO NO! Tabitha!” Louise shrieked, dropping down to her knees and staring at Tabitha, taking in the damage and weeping. “This is my fault… this is all my fault… I never should have let you come with me… you… you got hurt because of me…”

No one answered. No one _could_ answer.

The grayed out world before her seemed to stretch on in silence, only the silent white light of the rising sun keeping her company.

Wait, what?

Louise looked up at the sky, brows furrowed and eyes wet as she took in the sight of the brightening clouds.

“W-what…?” she whispered in confusion. Nothing should have been able to move! Time had been stopped! And yet… there it was.

Descending from the sky.

Twice the size of any Evangelion, with wings that stretched out across the sky.

A being that was stark white, glowing with divine power. Red eyes stared down at her with the faintest smile.

A being that, for all that there were angels, seemed like a _true_ angel. Holy warmth enveloped her as the radiant giant set foot upon the battlefield.

And Louise immediately noticed two things as the giant began to shrink down until it was her size:

One: it looked _exactly_ like _yet another_ version of Rei.

Two: She was naked and letting it all hang out.

“... Interesting, very interesting,” the being spoke, reaching down and ruffling Louise’s hair. “Being stuck out of phase with reality was quite interesting. Thank you for breaching my, admittedly almost self imposed, imprisonment. My name is-”

“Rei?” Louise deadpanned.

“... Yes and no. I am Lilith.” Lilith answered, idly stepping past Louise and walking _through_ Tabitha and healing her wounds as she made her way over to where Shinji laid still on the ground, frozen in the midst of pushing Armisael and Azariel off of him. “Magnificent…” she breathed, looking up at Shinji with a quiet smile. “So this is the true potential of the boy who would become god. Ikari-kun… not _my_ Ikari-kun, but still one who I would like to make _mine_.”

“.... How are all of you angels so goddamn perverted?” Louise sighed, watching with nothing but dead, annoyed eyes as Lilith stroked Shinji’s side and somehow made him turn back into a human. 

“We are free of societal inhibitions is all,” Lilith shrugged and cradled Shinji close as she raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

And so time resumed.


	46. Chapter 46

With a clap of her hands, the chaos stopped.

“Ikari-kun, it’s good to see you again. For the first time, technically, but you did kind of kill me when time reset, but that’s alright,” Lilith smiled gently down at the very confused and flustered Shinji, who found himself pressed right up against Lilith’s naked boob.

Yui and Yui just sighed, Ikari shrinking down and carrying Ayanami as she flew over to Gendo and picked him up as well, the three of them flying off to do things that nobody wanted to imagine but everyone knew was going to happen.

Silently, as if on cue, everyone else relaxed from their battle heightened states, shrinking back to human form and dusting themselves off, while Leliel just grumbled that she had basically been used as a dumping ground for the last few minutes.

“... Well, that was… terrifying to witness,” Vittorio muttered, clapping his hands and getting everyone’s attention. “Well, far be it from me to turn away guests… especially if they could wipe out the city instantly if they so desired. Everyone, while you are still here, I hereby invite you to Romalia! I would be honored if you all would join me in the church for supper tonight!”

“Well, now that _that_ farce is done,” Asuka muttered, climbing to her feet and limping off back towards the city. “I’m going to go get some lunch. I’m hungry, tired, and I got punched in the cunt by the giant orange wondergirl.”

“You’re welcome~” Rei-00 waved, an innocent smile on her face.

“... Okay so um… what’s going on?” Shinji asked, finally pulling away from Lilith long enough to stand up on his own. “And um… who are you?”

“Mm, right. The Ikari-kun I fell in love with is long since dead. I am Rei- the third incarnation of Rei, right after she died… or, well, almost died and got pulled into this universe,” Lilith pointed over at Rei II, who just seemed rather disturbed at this revelation. That, or she was trying not to scream since Louise had punched her in the boob rather hard whilst everyone was distracted.

Scratch that, she just screamed and fell to the ground, with Louise looking _very_ content next to her.

“... Yowch,” Ramiel deadpanned.

At that moment, Eleonore and Karin climbed out of a nearby crater, both sporting black eyes. Judging by the almost giddy expression on Eleonore's face and a proud one on Karin's, the former had clearly won their fight. 

Louise _stared_ incredulously. "Did... did you two just spend the entire time brawling in a hole?" 

Eleonore nodded. "Why yes, yes we did. And I won. And now I'm actually pretty okay with Mother. You should try it too, Chibi-Louise; it's surprisingly cathartic." 

Louise groaned. Then she side-eyed Rei II, still on the ground, but in the process of getting up. 

She glanced between Rei II and a calm if slightly apologetic Karin. She shrugged. "Oh what the hell." 

A swift flash-step later, Karin was also on the ground, groaning. Louise shrugged. "Yeah, you may have had a point there, Big Sis." 

Away, next to Zeruel, Cattleya was facepalming. "Such... Such... _men,_" she complained to her familiar. "They're as bad as your family, I swear..." 

“No wonder most Angels are attracted to Louise,” Zeruel deadpanned. “She acts exactly like one of us.”

“Y’know, Rei-00 really did have the right idea,” Louise hummed, looking down at her still clenched fist and feeling _powerful_. “Punching people really hard in the boob is _really_ cathartic.”

“Please don’t punch me in the boob,” Ramiel sighed, floating up next to Louise and subtly creating an AT-Field around her chest just in case. “I already got punched in the crotch and I don’t need to have my other delicate bits injured.”

She sighed, looking wistfully down at her body, “Maybe getting a human form was a mistake.”

Cattleya sighed. "You know what, that Asuka girl had a good idea. Let's go find some lunch."

<>

As everyone headed off into Romalia to do… something, Louise and Tabitha found themselves swiftly abandoned- Ramiel and Zeruel had decided to go cash in that date with Rei-00 early, Yui and Yui were still off with Gendo, Shinji had been carried off by Tabris and Rei, followed shortly after by Rei I, Leliel, Lilith, Mari, and even Rei II, Asuka was off getting lunch at some new restaurant that had just opened, Karin and Eleonore had decided to go do some mother/daughter bonding with Cattleya, Siesta had fucked off back to the Academy, Azariel had gone back to Tristain to reunite with Henrietta, and Vittorio had gone back to the church to go cry in a corner for a while.

Louise looked at Tabitha. "Are you... okay?" 

"I am fine," came the unusually verbose answer. 

Louise looked at her girlfriend. "Are you sure? You seem..." 

"Disturbed?" Tabitha offered. "I am. I... I thought I had lost you. Forever. I..." 

Louise pulled the other girl into a hug. "I... thought the same thing," she confessed. "When I saw you lying there, with that bitch looming over you..." 

"When you were taken by the abyss..." Tabitha said quietly. "All I could think of..." 

"'It's my fault.'"

"'She was taken from me.'" 

"'She'd _dare..._'"

"'Give her back to me.'"

The two girls were embracing each other now. "I never want to let you go," Louise said quietly. 

"I never want to stop loving you," Tabitha answered. 

"I need to figure out a way to give you immortality." 

"...I beg your pardon?" 

Louise scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "I may have ended up with a Core, and accordingly, became a true Angel hybrid. And therefore, functionally immortal. So I'd have to hook you up with a Core too. Somehow." 

Tabitha kissed her lightly. "You have all the time in the world, mon amour."

<>

Siesta looked left and she looked right. She was in the most remote place she could think of; her great-grandmother's old cave. The pentagram was neatly drawn to the floor. She read miss Vallière's incantation again. Overly pretentious, sure, but you couldn't argue with the results.

She had also wanted a Familiar as soon as she realized that, as a Lilim, she was capable of picking up magic through basically osmosis through high concentrations of magic. Said realization was also why she had convinced Tabris to teach her to teleport, so she had been hanging around the Vallières lately. 

Oh well. That was enough dilly-dallying from her part. She drew her magic up. “My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from the very bottom of my heart - add to my guidance and appear!”

With a flash, an _enormous_ (and cracked) Core fell in front of her, inert. Siesta pursed her lips. "My name is Siesta Ikari. Pentagon of the Five Powers, make this Angel my Familiar - _or else._" 

She kissed the Core. 

With an enormous trumpeting roar, a sound not unlike a blast of wind whistling through a cave or perhaps the sound of a whale, the core blasted to life with great and furious energy, erupting through the roof of the cave as blood seemed to pour out of nowhere, crushing through the rocks as the newly formed Angel flew higher and higher and higher and…

Oh.

Oh dear.

She stared up at the blindingly hypnotic form of her Familiar, its scintillating rainbow patterns rippling around a massive false eye.

It was huge. 

It was beautiful.

It was…

Very, very likely to destroy most, if not all, of Tristain if it fell down, so Siesta was _very_ thankful that its AT-Field was capable of supporting its enormous weight in the air.

"Hello!" she called up, before reconsidering and teleporting on top of it. "What's your name, beautiful?" 

_S A H A Q U I E L_

The now named angel preened, fluttering its wings slowly as it extended down a massive skeletal figure that reached down and brought its birdlike skull close to Siesta’s, projecting feelings of curiosity over the fact that, although there were so many AT-Fields saturating the area, the orbital mechanics and general astronomy of the area didn’t match up in the slightest to the planet it had been on and/or tried to blow up before. The force of gravity was slightly higher, the orbit had less wobble, there were two moons, and also despite the higher mass, the planet was still the same size and distance away from its star, despite orbiting around a slightly larger sun.

Siesta smiled. "Welcome to Halkeginia, Sahaquiel! A world of magic and general madness. Some of your siblings are here, too!" 

_C O N F I R M E D_

Sahaquiel seemed to _ripple_ as it let out a truly _monstrous_ sensor ping, flexing its AT-Field out and letting the sheer force of its ping kick up dust and stray leaves as it echoed out across all of Halkeginia in an instant, picking up several replies and a few surprisingly verbose messages.

_B R A T_

Sahaquiel almost deadpanned, referring to Ramiel’s return message, which had just been a litany of swear words and insults that only just veiled genuine relief at seeing Sahaquiel alive and well.

Siesta giggled. "Yeah, they're a colourful bunch," she offered. "Can you do the going-small thing they all do, by the way?" 

_I N C A P A B L E_

Sahaquiel’s voice was tinged with a bit of regret, since its entire purpose was to hang around in orbit and then suicide bomb a target with enough force to sink a continent, it didn’t really have a small form. It did, though, at least have the ability to communicate at a much larger range than any of its family save for Arael and/or Lilith.

Siesta tapped her chin in thought. "And I can't ask Great-gran, because she's busy being vigorously in love with Great-grandpa.... Say, how good are you at adjusting your orbits?" 

_I N F A L L I B L E_

Sahaquiel boasted, a not quite empty one since it had been able to turn on a dime and redirect its orbit to pinpoint incredibly exact locations despite falling at somewhere near 3 kilometers per second at one point.

Siesta grinned. "Well in that case, let's park you over Tristainia and, uhhh. Wait I guess?" She paused. "We can totally talk from pretty much anywhere as long as we both have AT-fields, right? I just don't have the proper data packet yet..." 

_A G R E E_

Sahaquiel made something like a nod, retracting its skeletal dummy body and ascending back into the sky, swirling into a large, rippling ball before covering its body with its AT-Field and becoming nothing more than a glittering patch of hexagonal mirrors in the sky that swiftly vanished into high orbit.

Siesta grinned to herself. "Man I love this family."


	47. Chapter 47

_Q U E R Y_

Sahaquiel asked, boredly playing I-spy with Leliel as the black and white angel rested in its massive shadow.

“... Is it…. Fifteenth star on the left, six up and over from the moon, about two hundred lightyears away?”

_A F F I R M A T I V E_

“Huh. Who would have figured that the closest planet this galaxy has to Earth would be so relatively close,” Leliel mused, idly drumming her hand along the spikes of Sahaquiel’s center eye. “I’ll be back soon, sis. Try not to go crazy up here. Don’t hesitate to transmit to one of us if you feel lonely.”

And with that, Leliel vanished back to earth, reappearing next to Rei II, who was currently seemingly doing some kind of complicated math on her chalkboard.

“Leliel,” Rei II nodded at the angel, not even bothering to turn her head as she wrote down a few more lines and scratched her head, making sort of a humming noise as she tried to fill in the blanks.

“It’s a derivation of Yuis’ math,” Rei II said, anticipating the question already. “Something Shikinami said stuck with me, so I’m rederiving the AT-specific dimensional frequencies.”

“.... Okay but why though?” Leliel asked, idly doing some busy work as she fiddled around and edited a few parts where Rei II had been just slightly off. “You could just ask one of us if you want the math. Though, you’d have to ask Zeruel or Sahaquiel for the higher power AT-Field calculations.”

Rei II sighed. “Partially, because I like the mental challenge. As to the rest of it...” She sighed again. “I fear I have alienated far too much of them, and not always by accident either. Many of these roads are simply closed to me, by now.”

“Eh? Nah, we all like you fine. Well, Ramiel doesn’t but Ramiel’s a surly little brat who only really likes her Master,” Leliel shrugged and booped Rei II’s nose. “Besides, it’s not like you really did anything to most of us. Well, you did do… uhhhhh…. You killed Arael but Arael is a bitch so fuck her. Uhhh…. And Armisael but she’s fine now and she likes you so whatever. I’m pretty sure Asuka’s alright with you considering she always seems a little disappointed whenever I tell her that you’re busy doing scary magics. Actually, it’s pretty much just Louise and Tabitha that hate you… for good reason I guess.”

“It’s Louise and Tabitha I’m rather worried about anyway,” Rei II noted. “After I dumped the little Valliere into you and out of the way, little Charlotte went _crazy._ Nearly killed me. And then the Valliere busts out a _time-stop._ I am rather rightfully afraid of them, and it’s not like they don’t hate me without reason anyway...”

“If they were going to try to kill you, Ramiel would have already blown up this city,” Leliel deadpanned, patting Rei II on the head and ruffling her hair. “She’s more than capable, after all, even if she’s only been running on less than half power lately. I do have to wonder why she’s working at such a low energy state, though…”

“I probably don’t want to know,” Rei II noted. “Anyway, since you offered, why don’t you help me? I want to know _exactly_ what the alternate Commander is doing over there...”

“... You don’t want to know,” Leliel shuddered, her shadow writhing for a moment as she quickly peeked across dimensional barriers and saw… 

“... Yeah, that is… _really_ disgusting,” Leliel turned away and immediately threw up her lunch into the closest trash can, heaving and groaning as what had once been a lovely saltimbocca came up with a rush of acid. “Bleehhh…. Human bodies _suck_.”

Rei II gave the dimensional angel a side-eye. “Do we need to seal him off in there, or was he just wanking? Because I can probably excuse the wanking.”

“... We definitely need to seal him off in there… the things he was making…” Leliel shuddered and heaved again, groaning as nothing came up but splashes of acid. “_Abominations beyond imagination_. Even _worse_ than the abomination robots you all used.”

Rei II froze the vomit, carefully banishing it somewhere _else_ than into Leliel. Like, say, Joseph’s “grave”. Or his dried-out mummified half-corpse in the desert. Whatever. “Then we need to seal off that reality, and _fast._ This is a perfectly idyllic place - yet still - and I see no reason to disturb that.” She picked up the chalk again. “Help me with that, will you?”

“You’ll need more than just my help,” Leliel shook her head, rising from the floor and subsequently swallowing both Rei II and the chalkboard into her true body, appearing in the lab of the two Yuis with a slight clatter as she set down the board.

“Yui! And other Yui! We need to seal off the original universe! Other Gendo is creating abominations!” Leliel frantically waved her hands, shoving Rei II towards them and vanishing away before they could react.

Rei II looked around drily. “Please put your clothes on. You can roleplay later.”

Yui A. tilted her head. “Why?”

As she was the only one with a free head - Rei II very pointedly did not look at the other two - she was subsequently the only one of the original three occupants of the lab actually capable of talking. So Rei II addressed _her._

“We need to seal off the universe your son ripped himself out of,” Rei II reported with a voice so dry you’d mistake it for a desert. 

“Can’t it wait? I’m in the middle of something,” Yui motioned down at the sight that Rei II desperately wished she could unsee, very clearly implying that Rei II should come back later.

“.... I’ll come back tomorrow then,” Rei II sighed, shaking her head and walking out the door, going a bit green the moment she heard some truly disturbing sounds echoing out from behind her.

“I am _never_ going in there again,” she groaned, completely disgusted at the sight that she had seen. Gendo’s sex life truly was the one thing more disgusting than Joseph, it seemed.

<>

Asuka had been enjoying a refreshing Mediterranean cocktail on some Romalian beach or another, when Rei II walked out of her shadow. "Asuka Shikinami, I require your assistance," she spoke blandly and without even so much as a hello.

“Really bitch?” Asuka sighed, raising her sunglasses up and staring at Rei II, thoroughly unamused at the interruption. “I’m on vacation right now. What’s so important that you couldn’t have waited a _week_ for me to get back?”

Rei II stared back. "I have had to deal with walking in on the Commander, so I'm not in the mood, Asuka. Trouble is brewing. The version of the Commander that _you_ remember is approaching dangerous levels, and needs containment."

“Mein Gott, building terrifying remote control Evas _wasn’t_ dangerous? What the hell is he doing that’s _worse_!?” Asuka exclaimed, setting aside her cocktail before she could spill it and ruin her day even worse. “And what do you need my help for? I’m good at punching the crap out of stuff, not AT-Field mechanics!”

"It's exceedingly simple," Rei II said. "We need more Angels. You should qualify for the ability to summon one yourself, by now." Rei II looked into the distance. "Understand, it is less of a 'help' and more of a 'failsafe'. I'm already roping in the Yuis, as soon as they're done, and Sahaquiel and Leliel have also agreed that your dimension needs sealing off." 

Rei II put her hands on Asuka's shoulders. "We may never need it," she said. "But better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. So, help me?" 

“.... uhhhhhhh….. Okay?” Asuka shrugged, not entirely sure what she was getting into but willing to hear Rei II out anyway. “.... So uh…. What do I do?”

Rei II pulled out a piece of paper. "I shall draw a pentagram," she said, etching one out with her AT-field. "You will then say this incantation and infuse the circle with your AT-field. An Angel Core should appear. You will then proceed to say the second incantation, or a variation of it if you desire, and kiss the Core. Do you understand?" 

“.... Is the kissing part absolutely necessary?” Asuka asked, furrowing her brow as a strange realization came over her. “... Wait…. Gendo is _my_ master, technically speaking… so… wait… does that mean he kissed _me_!?”

Rei II smirked. "He categorically refused to kiss a fourteen-year-old girl, actually. It was only when I pointed out the remnants of Bardiel in your eyeball that he agreed. I believe his exact words were, and I quote, 'I suppose I shall kiss the goo, then.'"

“... Oh, well that’s a relief. He’s a huge pervert and a massive weirdo but at least he’s not a pedophile,” Asuka sighed, placing her hand on her chest and sighing in relief. “Okay so.. Let’s see….”

Asuka stood at the pentagram Rei II drew, infusing it with her AT-Field as she called out.

“My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from the very bottom of my heart - add to my guidance and appear!”

And before she could react to how pretentious the statement was, a blinding, massive flash of light seared through the air, singing the tips of her hair and definitely darkening her skin a few shades as it blazed to life in the form of a single, pierced through core, with two puncture holes going through the middle and stopping just before they would have gone all the way through.

“... Are… you sure this thing is still alive?” Asuka asked, idly poking the inert sphere. Large as it was, it seemed much smaller without the presence of an Angel behind it.

Rei II looked at it. She mentally compared the holes to the Lances she still had in storage. She then stared at Asuka. "I suspect irony afoot," she said dryly. "But yes. The kiss awakens the Angel, no matter how broken they are." 

“Well alright then,” Asuka shrugged and tapped the sphere, speaking the incantation before giving it a chaste, gentle kiss, feeling a bit ridiculous for kissing what was essentially a giant ruby. “Pentagon of the five elemental powers; bless this humble being, and make it my familiar.”

And as the angel shrieked to life, a searing light washed over Asuka and Rei II, immediately pulsating through their AT-Fields and scanning their surface thoughts as it rose into the air, a crystalline bird of light, with a shining core in its center.

_B I T C H_

Arael shrieked, directing nothing but sheer rage towards Rei II for having the gall to strike it down while it was having a conversation with the Asuka it knew. Granted it was mostly just fishing for information while the girl screamed but whatever. Not her problem.

“... I hate literally everything about this,” Asuka deadpanned, facepalming and sighing at the fact that she of all people had to get the one goddamn angel that threw her alternate timeline self into a fucking coma.

"Your definition of a conversation leaves a lot to be desired," Rei II snarked. "Mind you..." She rose into the air, glowing malevolently. "Back at you." She threw her own probe out, ruthlessly scanning all of Arael's data encryption packages, and grinning widely. 

_W H O R E_

She projected back at the Angel, gleefully insinuating that Arael put out before even the first date, didn't respect any boundaries, and did whoever she came across. In a dense and a highly-nuanced package, even. 

Without even a single witty response or warning, Arael immediately lashed out with its light again, a single, dense packet of rage that tore into Rei II’s AT-Field and drudged up her traumas, scattering them into her surface thoughts until they clouded her soul entirely.

Rei II _screamed_.

“Stop it, you’re hurting her!” Asuka cried out, blasting out with her own AT-Field, Bardiel surging to full wakefulness alongside her as she double layered her AT-Field, wrapping it around herself and Rei II, blocking out the light as best as she could before Arael just stopped, preening mockingly without even an ounce of regret.

_B I T C H_

Arael sang out with immaculate chorus, ascending high up into the clouds, mocking Rei II’s catatonic body and _oozing_ pride and sheer, apathetic cruelty.

"Your... Problem..."

With that statement, Rei II revealed herself to not be as catatonic as Arael would have hoped. 

The woman grinned weakly. "You... Think... Traumas are all... Equally debilitating... That you can't.... Face them.... And understand...." 

Rei II grabbed onto Asuka for support. "I... Win." 

Two Lancea Longini materialized above Arael's wings, prongs downwards, before plummeting towards the ground and taking the surprised Angel with them, pinning her into the ground. 

Rei II grinned. "Smart enough... To throw my mind astray.... Stupid enough... To underestimate me." 

She swayed. "And.... Stay down." 

Rei II collapsed into Asuka's lap. 

Asuka just stared at Rei II, then at the catatonic form of her Familiar, then back down at Rei II.

“I. Hate. _Literally_. Everything. About. This.”


	48. Chapter 48

Gendo stood in his office, overlooking the construction below. Automated machines, building thousands upon thousands of soulless flesh golems. Flying beasts that bore the twin prongs of the Lance of Longinus, living batteries upon legs, birdlike monsters with corpselike flesh.

It would be beautiful if his thoughts weren’t so clouded.

The Scenario was in shambles. Sure, Shinji had awakened Unit-01. Sure, his closeness to Rei meant that he would follow her to the ends of the earth. But what he had never, nay, _could never_ account for, was something from _beyond_ the earth taking Rei from Shinji. He did everything he could to prepare his son for doing everything for Rei. But when Rei had been taken to _elsewhere,_ Shinji had followed.

The one time the boy does something he’s supposed to.

Gendo growled. His thoughts were running in circles again.

He once again cast his gaze towards the Key of Nebuchadnezzar, sitting on his desk. Ascension...

Ascension was worthless without Yui.

However...

The Commander of NERV walked over to the blackboard next to his desk. Kyuu, as she preferred to be called, formerly known as Rei Ayanami | Type Q, was working feverishly on dimensional mathematics.

“Status?” Gendo asked.

“It’s coming, Commander,” said Kyuu, a shiver of excitement in her voice. Gendo smirked. Yes, allowing an Ayanami Type to partake in the full might of her potential brainpower had been a tremendous stroke of genius.

“Continue,” he told her. She was useful. But she wasn’t his Yui.

Gendo wasn’t quite sure what would happen if he did manage to get Yui back. But he promised himself, come hell or high water, he would find her. And he would destroy whatever fool it was that took his chance of getting her back.

He looked out of the window again, expression cold. Yes. He would destroy them.

<>

“Look, Misato… I know how much you hate him but at this point he’s our last option!” Ritsuko sighed, pacing on the deck of the now defunct AAA Wunder, which had become grounded after Asuka and Mari had vanished into the ether, leaving their conjoined Evas dead and unresponsive. With no AT-Field to support the ship, there was no way they could survive any kind of assault, especially not when that bastard was doing god knows what in the ruins of the Geofront.

“What, and sell our souls just so we can have even the slightest chance of getting Asuka and Mari back?” Misato sniped back, crossing her arms and glaring at Ritsuko. “I don’t care if that bastard has better tech than us, we are _not_ going to enter a truce with Gendo Ikari and that’s _final_!”

Maya Ibuki poked her head out of a door. “This is probably a bad time, but... NERV is on the line. It seems they want a truce.”

Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”

Maya shrugged. “Yes, that’s what I said. Still, the Ayanami Type is on video, and rather insistent.”

“Fuck’s sake, this _has_ to be god fucking with me now,” Misato sighed, rubbing her forehead and groaning as she pushed past Maya and headed to the bridge to answer the call, glaring up at the blue haired kuudere staring back at her. “Alright, what do you want, Ayanami?”

“Please, call me Kyuu,” the Ayanami said. “The Commander asked me to negotiate a truce, knowing that _you_ would not want to speak to him.”

She crossed her arms. “The truce in question deals with the retrieval of Shinji Ikari from the dimension he followed my ancestor to, and hopefully aids in the retrieval of the Commander’s sanity. However, for that, I need the assistance of Pilot Asuka Shikinami Langley. Would you put her on, please?”

“... Ohhhhh shit,” Misato sighed, groaning even louder now as she shook her head, slumping into her command chair and clutching her cross necklace in her hand. “Fucking wonderful timing you’ve got there, Ayanami. Calling the _week_ after both of our only pilots vanish. Fucking amazing. Just. Fucking. Great.”

Kyuu straightened. “They both vanished? Interesting. Was per chance a portal of green involved?”

“.... Oh you’ve _got_ to be shitting me,” Misato sighed and straightened up as well, feeling a wicked headache coming in. “All of them were taken by the same… whoever it was, weren’t they? Great. Just great. Y’know what, sure. Fuck it. The world’s mostly destroyed already, might as well do this much. Tell that bastard that we have a truce… as long as we can get our pilots back too.”

Kyuu Ayanami steepled her fingers. “Then we have an agreement, Commander Katsuragi.”

As soon as the call cut out, Misato spun around in her chair and groaned, long and loud and full of suffering.

“How much you wanna bet that we’re all going to end up regretting this decision?”

“Sucker bet,” Ritsuko answered, not even bothering to look up from where she’d started fiddling with the computers.

“Fuck.”

<>

“My Ring!” the Water Spirit clapped her watery hands together gleefully, taking the ring from Louise and enveloping her in a very, _very_ wet hug.

“.... Great, that’s done,” Louise sighed, pushing her sopping wet hair out of her face as the Water Spirit retreated back to her lake and Montmorency enveloped her in her own very enthusiastic hug.

“Oh thank you thank you thank you!” she babbled, squeezing Louise tightly and grinning wide, oblivious to fact that Tabitha was beginning to raise her staff behind her.

“Let her have this,” Ramiel murmured, laughing internally as she idly pushed Tabitha’s staff down, watching gleefully as Montmorency definitely grabbed places that were not to be discussed in polite company whilst giving Louise a bear hug to end all bear hugs.

“Molester,” Tabitha muttered angrily, clenching her hands around her staff and seriously considering using her position as Queen of Gallia to _order_ Montmorency’s head be put on a silver platter.

“Aren’t you two technically in an open relationship, though?”

“Bitch,” Tabitha answered, huffing as she more or less emoted that Montmorency was kind of a huge bitch to Louise before she proved how powerful she was.

“Ah.”

“Can one of you help me already!?” Louise shrieked, yelping as Montmorency’s hands slipped beneath her shirt. “She’s starting to _actually_ molest me!”

“...Die.” Tabitha muttered, glaring as she swiftly blasted Montmorency off of her girlfriend and left her to chill out in a pile of snow.

“Nice.”

<>

“Do you think we’ve been forgotten about?” Tiffania idly wondered as she sat around with Mathilda, kicking her legs back and forth and hoping to dear god that the headmaster’s familiar was nowhere nearby. “It feels like Kaworu never hangs out with us anymore. The kids still see him, but… we all miss him.”

“I know I get forgotten every few days,” Mathilda muttered bitterly, sighing as she signed off on more paperwork. “Especially when Osmond sends most of his paperwork my way to sign instead of doing it his damned self.”

“Well, that’s because you spend all your time either in that dusty office or in your room, Mathilda,” Tiffania chided, pinching Mathilda’s cheek and puffing out her own. “If you actually went out and made friends with your coworkers maybe you’d have a spouse by now.”

“Hmph, before you came here my only concern was getting enough money to support the orphanage. What happened to it anyway?” Mathilda huffed, lightly batting Tiffania’s hand away.

“Oh, we had to abandon it after those horrible Reconquista people overran the entirety of Albion,” Tiffania remarked, seeming quite unconcerned with the whole affair. “We managed to commandeer one of their ships, though, thankfully. I’m not sure how Kaworu did it, but I suppose that’s just one of the things angels can do.”

“.... I…. see,” Mathilda deadpanned, rubbing her forehead and sighing. “Speaking of spouses, weren’t you going after that Louise girl?”

Tiffania blushed, stuttering and looking away as her face turned an interesting shade of red. “I-I- t-that is-! Sh-she’s already in a r-relationship!”

“... Didn’t the princess recently make polygamy legal in Tristain so long as both parties consented?” Mathilda asked, then paused and blinked. “.... Huh, so _that’s_ why she made that rule.”

“.... I must go,” Tiffania murmured, immediately speeding off to do… something.

Mathilda hoped Louise wouldn’t break her heart.

She definitely wasn’t strong enough to break Louise, after all.


	49. Chapter 49

“So, we all know what we must do?” the robed figure asked, features dimly lit by the candle upon the table, similar robed figures gathered around in solidarity.

“The Queen of Gallia has done well,” another spoke up, hiding her smile behind her sleeve and tittering. “As has the soon to be Queen of Tristain.”

“Why thank you,” the third spoke, folding her hands primly and nodding. “Shall we review our plan of action?”

“Before we do that,” Kirche spoke up, pulling off her hood and opening the curtains of the unused study room to let the light in. “Why exactly are we meeting like this in the first place? We may be plotting, but trying to get darling Louise to be amenable to being the leader of a harem is hardly the sort of thing that needs a conspiracy style round table meeting.”

“.... I thought it would be fun,” Tiffania huffed, crossing her arms as she tossed her robe off into the corner and pouted, the others similarly removing the unnecessary articles of clothing.

“Fair enough,” Kirche muttered as she sat down again. “Anyway, blah blah blah, I go get Tabby to convince darling Louise to accept harem members, we all go up and seduce her one by one, harem achieved, happy ending. Done.”

“Oh sure, suck all the fun out of it, why don’t you?” Mathilda rolled her eyes, slumping in her seat as she looked over to Montmorency, “Hey, why are you here? I thought Louise didn’t even like you?”

“And I thought she barely knew you existed?” Montmorency sniped back.

“Why you little-!”

Tiffania sighed as the meeting devolved into a brawl, Mathilda tackling Montmorency to the ground and the two of them rolling around violently, knocking over chairs and flipping the table.

“Maybe this was all a bad idea,” she grumbled.

“Definitely,” Tabitha deadpanned from where she stood in the doorway, thoroughly unamused at the sight before her.

<>

“So how come you have your own name?” Maya asked their newest ally curiously. Sure, she supposed hating her would be easier or something, but there was simply something so very out of the norm about the idea of an _independent_ Ayanami Type.

“Tactical Commander Fuyutsuki suggested,” said Kyuu, “and Commander Ikari agreed that a new perspective was required on the ‘find Shinji’ front. Thus, I was allowed to evolve from beyond basic ‘pilot EVA’ protocols.”

Maya paused. “...So Ikari still cares about his son? After all these years? After he tore a hole into the world?”

Kyuu regarded the older woman. “You are not acquainted with the ‘Ikari’ mindset, Major Ibuki. It is exceedingly simple to get caught in it, and exceedingly difficult to explain it, but I will attempt it nonetheless.”

The girl walked over to a new, empty blackboard and drew a box. “This,” she said, “Is an Ikari’s ‘box’. It’s what they hold themselves to.” Kyuu wrote ‘BETTERMENT’ into the box. Then she drew another box and wrote ‘HUMILITY’ into the box. “Those are the ‘boxes’ of Gendo Ikari and Shinji Ikari.”

Maya stared incredulously. “Gendo Ikari holds himself to _betterment?_ Are you _serious!?_”

Kyuu nodded seriously. “I am. Gendo Ikari seeks to be a better person than he is. Unfortunately, his goal is...” She paused. “For lack of a better term, _superseded._”

She drew another box into each of the boxes. “You see, Major, when an Ikari falls in love...” Into Gendo’s box in the box, she wrote ‘Yui Ayanami’. Into Shinji’s, she wrote ‘Rei Ayanami’. Maya’s eyes grew wider with each character. 

“Wait, but that’s-”

“When an Ikari falls in love,” repeated Kyuu, “it supersedes their ‘box.’ For those that they love, an Ikari will build an army. For those that they love, an Ikari will tear apart heaven and earth. And their values... to hell with them.”

Maya swallowed. “So that means...”

“It means,” agreed Kyuu, “that the Ikaris are in love. It means that they recognize that the other is in love. And for that, they respect each other.”

She wrote out the name ‘Ayanami’ and outlined it twice. “Shinji Ikari tore his way into another world because his Ayanami was taken there by the same unknown force that took your Pilots,” she said quietly. “Gendo Ikari is doing the same because within the Beast that was Unit-01 was _his_ Ayanami.”

Kyuu Ayanami smiled sadly. “It’s Ayanami all the way down.”

<>

A curious soul in a WILLE conference room aboard the Wunder, if one happened to wander into it, would most likely rub their eyes and walk back out, for what they were seeing couldn’t _possibly_ have been real.

And yet, it was. Ritsuko Akagi was still marvelling over the phenomenon.

Misato Katsuragi.

Gendo Ikari.

In the same room.

_Not_ killing each other.

What was somewhat amusing was the fact that the one hiding her mouth behind tented fingers was in fact _Misato,_ and the one leaning back with arms crossed was Gendo.

If Ritsuko didn’t know better, she’d have said they’d have swapped bodies. (They hadn’t. She’d checked. Several times over.)

“Those are the terms, Gendo,” Misato smirked behind her hands, knowing full well that at this point WILLE was far too valuable a resource to lose. “Take it or leave it. It’s not asking for much.”

“You’re asking to use _my wife_ as a living battery for your ship,” Gendo countered. “I rather thought _I_ was supposed to be the evil half of this equation. I can give you several Super Solenoid Engines, which I might add, _I was going to anyway,_ but once we retrieve my son and Unit-01, you will not be getting _her._”

“You know damn well that without an active AT-Field, the S2 Engines are functionally useless,” Misato shot back, lowering her brow as she glowered at Gendo. “Unless you happen to have a spare Eva unit with a pilot lying around, WILLE won’t do jack shit.”

Gendo hrmmed. “I _had_ a Pilot. Try and guess where he disappeared off to.” The man stroked his beard. “Kyuu is simply too valuable to risk as a Pilot, but...” He tilted his head. “How about a Vessel of the Adams? Or two?”

“... A what now,” Misato deadpanned, staring at Gendo as she slowly realized that the man was probably way crazier than she thought. 

Gendo adjusted his visor. “One of the four Adams from Second Impact. Restrained, lobotomized, stuffed into Evangelions, and, in a specific case, specially ensouled.” He tapped his fingertips together. “Admittedly, the latter variant is in fact what we want to get back, but still. Any of your crew interested in potential godhood?”

“... You know what, I think I would rather just have you tow the ship,” Misato sighed, rubbing her forehead and shaking her head. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a sick, sick man?”

Gendo smiled fondly. “I prefer to call it ‘brilliance’. It’s why Yui fell in love with me in the first place, after all.” He adjusted his glasses. “I am serious, commander Katsuragi. Becoming one with an Adams’ Vessel is more or less a guaranteed godhood. Are you certain you aren’t interested?” He looked over towards Ritsuko, who seemed to be having some sort of a fit. “How about you, doctor Akagi?”

Ritsuko, naturally, was too busy laughing to answer.

“I hate. Literally. Everything about this,” Misato sighed, burying her face in her hands and wishing to god that Gendo would stop creating abominations against reality, morality, and science. Again.


	50. Chapter 50

“Okay so explain to me again why you can’t seal off this universe, or at least this planet?” Yui Ikari asked Lilith, hands on her hips and staring pointedly at the very prominent red core jutting out between the living goddess’ collarbones.

“I may possess infinite power beyond even the full potential of your Super Solenoid, but to seal off an entire universe by using my AT-Field would annihilate every living soul present by sheer force of my will pressing down. And I have no desire to murder my husband just so _your_ husband does not come here,” Lilith answered, staring pointedly at Yui Ayanami, who just looked away and whistled casually.

“... Yeah okay, fair enough,” Yui Ikari shrugged and decided to forget about the thing entirely.

“... You know, I should probably take more offense to the fact that your… associates? Associates, are making decisions deciding the fate of the world without any input from either me or Queen Charlotte,” Henrietta murmured from where she sat behind Louise, combing her hair with a serene smile on her face. “But then again, it’s not like they do much besides run amok like a farmer trying to catch a tricky fox.”

“To be fair,” Louise mused, “I get the feeling that this lot consider us not much more than ‘quaint’. Usually, it helps when you punch one of them in a sensitive area.”

“It’s improper to do as a Queen,” Henrietta just as idly fired back. 

“I mean Tabby nearly killed Sheffield,” Louise shrugged, “And that bitch totally deserved it.”

“Does Sheffield even count?” Tabitha mused from behind Henrietta, weaving tiny bows into the ends of her fellow Queen’s hair.

“I’m _right here,_” the woman groused from a nearby blackboard. “And for the last fucking time, _I’m sorry._ Besides, you nearly fucking killed me over a _percieved_ fault. A Dirac Sea is perfectly survivable. Especially when Leliel actively works on making it survivable.”

“_No,_” Tabitha ground out as ice crystals started to creep up Rei II’s legs, making the woman curse and wipe them off, “I nearly killed you as payback for all those times _you_ made my life a living Hell!”

“At least you’re more verbose _now,_” Rei II sniped back. “And I was regretting that part too, except due to the fact you’re getting bitchy again and are thus making it rather hard to regret stamping _that_ part of your personality out of you.”

“Try that,” Louise warned, “And I _will_ kill you.”

“I could kill her now if you want, Master,” Ramiel smiled, poking her head down from where she’d been hanging out in the rafters. “She can’t hold out against my beam forever~ Especially not if I turn up the power.”

“You did notice how I’m capable of _reflecting_ your lasers?” Rei II asked drily. “At any rate, weren’t you busy fucking an Eva variant of myself or something?”

“Reflections only work at lower power levels. I’m working on like, five percent right now,” Ramiel shrugged, then tilted her head. “And no, why would you think that? It’s Zeruel’s turn to get it right now.”

Rei II thunked her head against the blackboard. “I have _got_ to stop asking questions I don’t want the answers to.”

Over in the corner, Gendo Ikari adjusted his glasses. “I believe that’s karma for being a shitty parent. It seems to strike by forcing us to deal with idiots we can’t be shitty parents to, and going from there.” He nodded sagely. “But happiness can be attained, depending on the amount of positive karma stored up by those we have wronged.”

“Are _you_ one of those idiots?” Rei II snarked right back.

“Most definitely,” Gendo nodded in a rare moment of self awareness, grinning wryly as he leaned back and folded his hands in his lap. “After all, you are still watching out for me, are you not?”

Rei II simply elected to crumple onto the floor and groan. “I hate literally everything about this.”

<>

“The plan proceeds,” Tiffania murmured under her breath as she spied on Louise, biting her lip in jealousy as Henrietta and Tabitha sandwiched the pink haired mage between them. “.... But I wish it would proceed faster…”

“... Tiffania, why are you hiding behind a fern?” Kirche asked as she walked up to Tiffania, idly sipping at her morning coffee. “Have you even eaten breakfast yet?”

“She’s spying on the Valliere harem,” Siesta noted, leaning on a pillar and munching on popcorn.

“I am not _spying!_” Tiffania protested as she stepped out from behind the fern, her ears turning red and twitching in embarrassment. “I was just- just… eheh…”

“Spying, yes,” Mathilda deadpanned as she walked in, rolling her eyes. “Patience, little sister. You’ll get your due time once Kirche manages to get little Louise over her breast envy problem.”

“Translation,” Siesta giggled, “Once Kirche convinces Yui to make the little Valliere significantly less little.”

“I don’t think that’s what I was supposed to do?” Kirche tilted her head in confusion, staring at Siesta. “.... I mean, I wouldn’t mind darling Louise with some bigger assets, but I think I like her the way she is.”

Siesta tapped her chin. “Hmm, I must have misunderstood. What _did_ you mean when you said you needed to, and I quote, ‘apply a little thermal expansion to little Louise’?”

“I was just going to fondle her a little,” Kirche shrugged, giggling a little bit as her hands made a decidedly inappropriate motion. “She’s starting to fill out a bit after all~”

Siesta rolled her eyes. “What I’m wondering,” she quipped, “is why all of you are oh so interested in the little Valliere in the first place. Weren’t you, miss Zerbst, the one who came up with the nasty little ‘Zero’ nickname in the first place?”

“Times change. People change. I’ve come to realize that I was wrong about Louise and that she’s become _quite_ the specimen,” Kirche answered sincerely, licking her lips as she looked over at Louise, who was none the wiser, possibly because she was busy making out with Tabitha whilst partially hidden behind yet another potted plant.

“I’ve noticed,” Siesta snarked. She threw her empty popcorn tub behind her; it vanished as soon as it was out of sight. “Well, you have fun acquiring your specimen, miss Zerbst. I’m out.” 

And with that parting note, the maid turned and walked behind the pillar. Notably, the pillar was much thinner than Siesta herself.

“Show-off,” Mathilda noted.


	51. Chapter 51

“I’ve done it.”

Gendo looked sharply over. “Repeat that?”

“I’ve done it,” Kyuu repeated, a grin slowly crawling across her face. “I’ve worked out the math. I’ve figured out how to cross the dimensional barrier. All we need now is a way to pilot the Moon. After that, we’re in the clear! I did it!”

Gendo Ikari rose. “I’ll handle that. Kyuu, alert WILLE and report to the Mark.09. I’ll be in Dogma Cages if you need me.”

Kyuu Ayanami saluted. “Yes, Commander. On it.”

<>

“Urgent transmission from NERV!” Maya called as she ran into the room. “Get to the bridge, you two,” she sighed moments afterward and covered her eyes. “And put some clothes on! You’re the ones supposed to be in charge here!”

A few hurried minutes later, Ritsuko and Misato were on the bridge, looking slightly flushed, but staring incredulously at the form of Kyuu Ayanami.

“Is that...?” Ritsuko asked.

“A plugsuit, yes,” the Ayanami confirmed. “I will be piloting an Adams’ Vessel. I have figured out the barrier, and I will be serving as the power source to your Wunder. Any questions?”

“.... When did you have time to design and manufacture a brand new plugsuit? Those things take weeks to make even with full factory capacity,” Ritsuko asked, raising her eyebrow at Kyuu in confusion. “... Did Gendo just have a black one lying around?”

“... Well, I’d ask how I’m supposed to trust you since you work for Gendo but I suppose that’s a moot point now,” Misato grumbled, straightening out her jacket and coughing into her hand. “So I’m just going to ask exactly how we’re supposed to breach the dimensional barrier.”

Kyuu was tapping on something out of frame. “Sending you the data now, Vice Commander Akagi. And yes, I assume so. I have yet to find out where he gets most of that stuff from.”

She smiled. “Incoming, by the way.”

Up on the deck, a wormhole formed, depositing the Evangelion Mark.09 onto the Wunder. It was thin, thinner than even a normal Eva, and painted orange and white, resembling the destroyed Eva-00. Its head also resembled the missing Eva-00’s, except more streamlined. Its single eye was also bigger, and swiveling freely in its socket.

Ritsuko brought up a camera feed at it and squinted. “... Is that an Eva specifically designed to be able to roll its eyes?”

Still on the main screen, Kyuu rolled her eyes. The Evangelion copied the motion. “Apparently,” she snarked.

“Cute.” Misato deadpanned, sighing as she disengaged the locks holding Units-02 and 08 to the aft of the Wunder, dumping the two almost-corpses out and freeing the docking bay for Kyuu. “Dock’s open. It’ll be lopsided but a strong enough AT-Field will keep that from being an issue.”

“Noted,” the Ayanami snarked. “Into the maw I go.” She clambered into the docking bay, grunting. “I suppose it’s poetic in a way. I pilot your ship, as the Commander pilots his own... shall we say... _transport._” She sighed. “You do know _why_ he was trying to pass the ‘godhood’ buck to you lot, do you?”

“Honestly, I have no idea why and I don’t particularly want to know at this point,” Misato sighed, tapping at her controls and locking Kyuu into place, sighing in relief as the ship began to rise after a few moments. “Oh good, it worked.”

“He was trying to avoid it,” Kyuu said from within her plug. “Deep down, he wants to be a good man. Unfortunately, external attributes prevent him.”

As the Wunder rose further and began speeding towards the damaged Geofront, Kyuu said one more piece. “I should mention. This will be a one-way trip for multiple reasons. _That,_ is one of them.”

The ground ahead was rising. The Failures of Infinity started circling the NERV headquarters... no. They started circling what rose from the Earth. A massive, alien structure.

“.... Kyuu, what the fuck is that?” Misato asked, staring as the thing rose into the sky, trepidation lacing her voice. “.... Is _that_ why Gendo was trying to pass on godhood?”

“It’s the Geofront,” the Ayanami remarked. “Or more specifically, an ancient alien starship known as the Black Moon. To pilot one of those, you would need power comparable to that of at least one Progenitor.” 

She sighed again. “The Black Progenitor, whom you know as Lilith, is... unusable. White Progenitor, on the other hand...” She gestured. “The Commander most likely used the Key to become one with Evangelion Thirteen, a Vessel of one of the White Four. Regrettable.”

“... Okay then,” Misato muttered, directing the ship closer to the massive vessel. “So, what are the odds that there’s going to be a conveniently Wunder shaped docking area pressed into the surface of that thing that perfectly integrates the Wunder into that thing’s systems?”

“Low,” Kyuu noted. “You’ll need to share a docking bay with the 44A series. Top level, at twelve o’clock.” 

“Damn, super mecha anime lied to me,” Misato muttered, maneuvering the Wunder over and feeling quite disappointed in the lack of Wunder-shaped docking hole. “Just one more betrayal amongst a list of so many others.”

“Ironic, since before Shinji abandoned us and destroyed the world we might as well have been living in one,” Ritsuko muttered, watching as they passed by countless numbers of what could charitably be described as “biomechanical abominations against humanity, science, morality, and creation in general”. “.... Wow, this is… worse than anything I’ve ever imagined. Christ, does that one have a cannon penis!?”

“If you mean the Centaur one,” Kyuu groused, “Then yes. The design was lifted from the notes of a ‘Doctor Naoko Akagi’ and subsequently implemented for ironic purposes. I think the Commander may carry a grudge on his ex.”

“....Mom always was a bit of a horny bitch but…. Eugh. Didn’t wanna think of that,” Ritsuko pulled a face, swiftly looking away from the cannon penis centaur that may or may not have been a product of her mother’s sexual fantasies.

“I hate. Literally everything about this,” Misato sighed, deeply regretting the fact that all the booze on the Wunder had vanished some ten years ago in the middle of a ‘we didn’t die in the apocalypse’ party.”

“Indeed. I suggest you turn the ship around for departure. The view shall be... _spectacular._”

“Sure, I guess, though we’d better not go blind from this shit,” Misato muttered, rotating the Wunder around so that it faced the prow of the oddly shaped structure- or at least, as much of a prow as it had, and stared out the cockpit, wondering exactly what she was going to see.

It began very suddenly. A series of red, black and white rings expanded from above and below the vessel, stretching into the horizon. Then came the ever-enlarging black, empty void, also from above and below the vessel. The sky tinted red...

And the Black Moon vanished into the blackness.

“.... So um, is the entire thing just going to be us moving through a black void? Seems kind of like a letdown,” Misato murmured, holding her hand over her mouth and resting her chin against it thoughtfully. “I at least expected like, Hyperspace.”

“This isn’t Star Wars, Misato,” Ritsuko sighed, then paused when she spotted something off in the distance. “... What’s that white dot?”

“Imagine that we have simply pulled onto an exit ramp from our Universe onto an interdimensional highway. We are about to merge in. Do try not to throw up,” Kyuu answered sardonically, just as the Black Moon began to accelerate and-

“OH FUCK IT’S FULL OF COLORS!” Misato screamed, blinded by the flash of swirling lights, chaotic flares of light and energy bursting through the dimensional barrier and slamming into the AT-Field surrounding the Black Moon.

Long, black shadows stretched out into infinity, solid chunks of matter that had no definable properties yet existed beyond the conception of matter. Brilliant flares of interdimensional wind blasted in swirling patterns, colors blazing off into fractal patterns that twisted and wound off into the infinite expanse. Behind, their universe disappeared into the eddies of the dimensional gap, fading away to nothingness as though it were naught but a smear of light amongst an endless expanse of color.

“Are you done screaming yet?” Kyuu asked, sighing as she disengaged from the Wunder and took in the sight for herself. “Because if you scream for the entire journey this will be a _very_ annoying three months.”

“... Three months?” Ritsuko asked, having put on sunglasses so she wasn’t blinded by the infinite, chaotic glare of the dimensional gap. “Is that how long it’s going to take?”

“Fuuuuccckkkk… my eyessss….” Misato groaned, covering her face and really wishing she’d had Ritsuko’s foresight. The sentiment was echoed by the rest of the bridge crew, though they at least had screens to protect against the glare.

“Yes, three months. We could go faster, but the dimensional gap has been made even more treacherous than it would… well, I hesitate to say normal, but whatever Shinji did to reach the other universe, he managed to go at a speed so ridiculous that it began to shred apart the dimensional fabric that holds the multiverse together. Or, so observation appears. It could be the normal state of this place. I don’t know.” Kyuu shrugged, single eye rolling about in the Evangelion’s face. “Either way, Shinji has gone the equivalent of, ah, what was the old reference? He went plaid?”

“... Gendo let you watch Spaceballs?” Ritsuko muttered incredulously, staring out at Kyuu’s comm screen with a clear look of disbelief.

“Apparently it was his wife’s third favorite movie, just under ‘Godzilla vs Destoroyah’ and the Star Wars trilogy.”

“.... The Star Wars trilogy is three movies,” Ritsuko deadpanned, receiving a shrug from Kyuu in return.

“Yes, but he told me that she would always watch them in a specially edited format such that instead of three movies it was one, continuous, seven hour movie.”

“... Fair enough.”

“Okay, okay. I’m good. I can see again,” Misato finally grumbled, slipping on her own sunglasses and squinting out at the swirling colors before her. “Huh. Now that it’s not blinding me it’s actually kinda pretty.”

She paused, then tilted her head.

“... Anyone wanna play I Spy?”

Kyuu sighed.

“And like that, this journey has gone from poignant to absolutely asinine.”


	52. Chapter 52

There was something to be said about the waiting game, Louise thought to herself, idly playing with Kirche’s hair while the larger girl snoozed in her lap. Like that apparently Kirche was really bad at waiting for her turn in the queue of girls vying for a spot in her harem. Sure, Kirche hadn’t been the first nor (apparently) last to try and vie for her hand, but she’d certainly been… well, not surprising in the slightest, but certainly the one that seemed quite the most flustered at the thought of an actual relationship instead of one night stands with a bunch of hormonal boys who barely knew what sex was.

Granted, Louise barely knew either, but apparently her inexperience was cute, rather than disappointing.

Double standards all around, she supposed.

Still, with Tabitha on her left and Henrietta on her right, she couldn’t help but feel quite serene as she basked in the summer sun, leaning against a large boulder on the beach while the angels all played some hyper violent variation of a game of beach volleyball a few hundred meters away.

It was… nice.

Nice to get a breather from school (graduated with full honors, valedictorian of her class for maintaining perfect assignment grades even whilst making terrifying breakthroughs in the field of applied magics and also recovering many treasures thought lost beneath the sands and various other things that boosted her reputation further), nice to get a breather from politics (though with her girlfriend ascending to the spot of Queen of Tristain soon, she supposed that becoming the royal Queen Consort would throw her back in, especially since Louise was already Queen Consort of Gallia in all but name), nice to get a breather from those maniac Ikaris (Shinji was alright but the rest of his family was _batty_), nice to get a breather from the Rei-clones (even though there were _so_ many of them playing on the beach nearby- at least they weren’t bothering her).

Hell, it was even nice to get a break from Ramiel. Sure, she loved her familiar something fierce and would never leave her side, but Ramiel was loud and destructive and had the attention span of a particularly stupid gnat and was hornier than a mountain ram and sometimes Louise just wanted some quiet time with her girlfriend...s.

She just wished that she could get a breather from the rest of the girls stalking her.

Because, seriously, it was starting to get out of hand.

“.... Tiffania, Mathilda, Monmon, I know you’re behind that rock,” she deadpanned, sighing as she just closed her eyes and pretended like she wasn’t about to be buried under a pile of girls. “Just come out and get over here already. I _know_ you want to be part of my harem.”

And thus, Louise found herself comfortably surrounded and almost buried by six girls, all of whom were soft and warm and awakened blushy feelings in Louise’s gut that were only exacerbated by the fact that all six of them were wearing swimsuits that showed off _lots_ of skin.

Louise hadn’t quite figured out when she’d managed to gain an attraction to thighs of all things, but boy, did all of her girlfriends and potential girlfriends have nice ones.

Wow.

“... Darling, are you alright? You seem a bit red,” Kirche murmured, gently placing a chaste kiss against Louise’s thigh and tittering as Louise went from lightly flushed to tomato red in an instant.

“.... I have… I seem to have awakened a new fetish,” Louise murmured, gently pulling her arm free from beneath Henrietta and fanning herself, feeling quite woozy as the girls around her took advantage of the situation and began layering gentle kisses against her shoulders, arms, legs, even her belly.

“I-I- um…!!!!”

<>

“... You get that ass, Master,” Ramiel snickered from where she floated in the air, shaping her AT-Field just right and bouncing the ball back over the net with rocket-like speeds, turning her head just enough to watch the pile of girls in the distance.

“Damn, they’re really going at it,” Leliel murmured, swallowing the battered and damaged ball into the dirac sea and spitting it out back at Zeruel’s face.

“Holy shit they’re fuc-OW!” Zeruel yelped as the ball, having been partially deflected by a wild flail from Azariel, smacked her right in her unprotected boob. “Ow! My titty!”

“Ha! Looooser!” a sudden voice called out, bitchy and birdlike and full of disdainful smugness.

“.... Oh great, it’s _that_ bitch,” Ramiel sighed, palming her face and shaking her head. “Weren’t you over with your master, you disgustingly shiny bitch?”

Arael laughed boisterously, hand in front of her mouth like a true spoiled heiress. Shining locks swayed in an invisible wind as she descended upon wings of glowing crystal, touching down and prancing amongst the Rei-faced Angels with a sense of smug superiority that was all too fitting on her Asuka-derived face. “Master? Her? She only pretends that she can control me! That red-headed bitch is _mine_ to command!”

“Uh huh, and that’s why you’re wearing a collar that says ‘idiot’ on it, right?” Ramiel deadpanned, pointing at Arael’s neck.

“S-shut up! That blue haired bitch put this on me and won’t take it off!”

“That sounds like a you problem, dumbass,” Zeruel sniffed haughtily, raising a middle finger in Arael’s direction and laughing at the furious growl that resulted. “Serves you right you ugly bitch.”

“... I’m going to kill you nice and slow,” Arael hissed, her hands twisted into claws as she began to charge up her mindrape beam… only to immediately choke up and fall over, whining pathetically as she clutched her head and thrashed on the sand. “Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!!! Okay okay! I’ll be good! I’m sorry! Ow ow ow ow owwwww!!!!”

“... sucks for her,” Leliel murmured, idly portalling the pathetic angel away back to her Master’s side, where she belonged. “God, what a bitch.”

“Mhmm. Hey by the way, how come Sahaquiel hasn’t gotten a human form yet? I wanna hang out with her more,” Ramiel asked Leliel, who just pointed at the vast rainbow colored splotch in the sky, just barely visible through the atmospheric haze.

“She likes stargazing. Also if she came down, she’d have to be carried by everyone otherwise she might flatten half of Tristain,” Leliel answered.

“And it makes it easier for her to do the one thing she’s good at,” Azariel observed, quietly kneeling off to the side and making an ice castle out of the ocean. A full sized one. “She doesn’t really have any powers other than being the universe’s most powerful living kinetic impactor.”

_F A L S E_

Sahaquiel protested, saying that it was also capable of doing interstellar communication _and_ could move about with its AT-Field with far greater efficiency, control, and speed than anyone else.

“... True, but that’s not helpful in a fight is it.”

_A N N O Y A N C E_

Sahaquiel swiftly returned to the upper atmosphere, no longer interested in watching the goings on of the planet below. And to add some extra height so if it got really pissed off, it’d be able to impact Azariel’s dumb face even harder.

“Huh. Guessed I touched a nerve,” Azariel muttered, scratching her head idly. With a shrug, she wordlessly continued working on her oceanic ice castle.


	53. Chapter 53

“Y’know, I really should give that orbital kill sat a human form at some point,” Yui Ikari murmured, somewhat wishing for a cigarette as she relaxed with Gendo and Yui Ayanami in bed. “I wonder if she’d look like Rei.”

“Sucker bet. With the exception of Bardiel and Arael, all of them have looked like Rei,” Yui Ayanami huffed, then tapped her chin. “... I wonder why that is.”

“Well, for one, Ramiel was already predisposed to looking like Rei given that she’s both blue and her human form is based on my DNA. Same with Azariel and Zeruel, and Zeruel also had the benefit of absorbing a Rei herself so she was even more predisposed to it. Leliel probably chose a Rei form because she really wanted to bone Shinji, and Shinji kind of already had an attraction to Rei, so that explains why she ended up looking like a naked Rei in the first place. Lilith is the fusion of the original Lilith and an actual Rei, no mystery there.” Yui Ikari answered, seemingly pulling it all off the top of her head.

“... Oh yeah, I remember now you spent like a few hours working that out already. I suppose Bardiel and Arael look like Asuka because one of them is directly fused to her and the other already had an imprint of her in her mind,” Yui Ayanami mused.

“Correct. The others that’d look like Asuka are probably…. Sandalphon, since that one was directly killed by Asuka. Gaghiel, again, directly killed by Asuka, Iruel would definitely be a Rei clone since it infected Rei’s simulation body that one time…. Israfel, probably an Asuka copy actually. The other Sahaquiel… either or, actually. Sachiel and Shamshel would probably look like Rei clones, since _I_ killed them and Rei is… sort of based on my appearance. Same with Zeruel. And Matarael. And the other Bardiel.”

“Huh. Impressive track record,” Ayanami murmured, blushing slightly at the way Ikari flexed her… admittedly not very impressive looking muscles. But Ayanami knew the power behind those skinny arms and, well.

Gendo sighed, taking a deep breath and thanking every god he knew of that his wife had decided to shove a core into his chest.

If she hadn’t, he’d have probably died by now.

As it was, with the two of them now bearing down on him again like hungry jackals… he prayed to the gods that he didn’t believe in that his core/heart thing wouldn’t fail him now.

<>

“I _really_ wish I could go on a vacation,” Vittorio sighed, swirling a goblet of wine and sipping from it idly. “But alas, a man of my station and importance is locked into the trappings of the religion I am the pope of, and no matter how much I might wish it, the pope cannot simply gallivant off to who knows where on a whim.”

“Well, if you kick everyone else out of the palace you can effectively have what might as well be a vacation,” Karin answered, sipping her tea and raising an eyebrow at Vittorio’s choice of drink. “Are you allowed to have that?”

“It’s after six in the evening. No one will care,” Vittorio waved a hand, uncaring of the fact that he might actually be breaking some kind of pope oath or whatever. He was the pope, dammit. He made the rules. Ergo, the pope can drink after 6 pm. Or earlier, if circumstances are dire enough. “And… perhaps I should kick a certain group of people out of the palace for a while. Their... activities… are very loud.”

“So I’ve heard,” Karin replied dryly, blinking oh so slowly and sarcastically as the sounds of _vigorous_ activity echoed through the ceiling, muffled but still audible despite the source of such rhythmic… noise… being some three floors up. “My, but they do have a lot of energy.”

“I wish they would not do… _that_ so much,” Vittorio sighed, rubbing his forehead and groaning. “It’s bad enough that they do it at all hours of the night, but to continue throughout the day, and even during mass? Were it not for one of them being nearly divine in power, I would have been removed from the seat of pope for allowing such lechery to happen inside the papal palace.”

“Well, again. Whenever they’re done with that, ask them to take it elsewhere. Surely they wouldn’t mind visiting that resort up north for some few weeks,” Karin suggested, draining her teacup in a few sip and setting it down. “... Vittorio, do you think Louise hates me?”

“... I am unable to answer that, Karin,” Vittorio sighed, frowning deeply and steepling his hands in front of his face. “But I think that she still loves you, despite her current aversion to you.”

“I truly have been a terrible mother haven’t I?” Karin asked, looking wistfully out the window and barely even hearing Vittorio’s words. “I wish I could fix what I’ve done, but Louise won’t even write a letter to me.”

“Give her time, Karin. Even if it takes a year or more, I have no doubt that she will come back to you. To make amends is no small task, and that you are trying now to let her flourish without you… is more than most could do.” Vittorio leaned forward, smiling gently and placing a comforting hand over Karin’s. “I think you have been on sabbatical long enough, Karin Desiree de la Valliere. You should return home to your husband. I’m sure he misses you dearly.”

Karin sighed, shaking her head as she stood up and headed for the door. “You are right, Vittorio. I’ve been away too long. I miss Duke dearly, and he misses me. Thank you for being such a kind host for these past few months.”

“You are always welcome back in Romalia, Karin. Please, take care,” Vittorio smiled, kneeling down and gently kissing Karin’s knuckles. “And I pray that your endeavors all result in success.”

“Goodbye Vittorio,” Karin nodded, and left. The last thing Vittorio saw of her was her back, riding along on her familiar as she flew back to Tristain, where she belonged.

“... Well, at least _someone_ in this palace has some sense,” Vittorio muttered, shaking his head fondly before wincing as a particularly loud moan made its way through the ceiling despite, again, the three whole floors of separation. “Unlike those three.”


	54. Chapter 54

“So. You’re me from another universe,” Rei I started, folding her hands in her lap as she sat down across from Rei-00. She looked around the cafe they had decided to come to, and quietly glared at anyone dumb enough to eavesdrop on them.

“Mhmm,” Rei-00 answered, idly taking a sip of coffee and grimacing. “... Hm. Coffee’s not my thing I guess.”

“... Why does coffee even exist here in the first place? Coffee beans originated in the Americas and those don’t exist here. Or at least, not in any useful way. Do you think the third version of me knows if they exist for real?” Rei I idly pushed away her own cup, figuring that their tastes were similar enough that the brown liquid would only revolt her as well.

“Possibly. She _was_ buried where Japan is so she’d probably know more than us about any other beings that live on this planet, if only in passing.” Rei-00 shrugged, not at all that concerned. “It is a mystery.”

“Mhmm… hey so, I know you already have that other version of the second riding around in you sometimes, but uh… well, she’s with Shinji now so…” Rei I idly traced circles on the table, hoping Rei-00 got what she meant.

“Sure. If we do battle again in the future, you can pilot me. Might as well, since apparently even despite being fully integrated with the eva body we all still do better with an actual pilot. Sohryu, that bitch, is so lucky she counts as eva _and_ pilot at the same time.” Rei-00 grumbled, clenching her fist and glaring dramatically off into the distance. “Lucky bitch.”

“Well, she did get Arael as her Familiar so I guess it all balances out, really,” Rei I shrugged, tittering slightly at that fact. “The queen bitch of the pilots gets the _bitchiest_ angel. How ironic.”

“I wouldn’t say bitchy…” Rei-00 muttered, tapping her chin and shaking her head. “Ramiel is bitchy. Zeruel is bitchy. Almost every angel except Armisael is bitchy. Arael is just _mean_.”

“She did try to mindrape Rei II the moment she woke up,” Rei I agreed, nodding slowly and humming quietly. “Man, what a bitch.”

“An unrepentant asshole. I’m just glad Asuka and Rei II keep her on a short leash,” Rei-00 sighed and stood up. “Alright, let’s go get some real food. You wanna get lunch?”

“Sure,” Rei I joined Rei-00 and the two promptly walked out, ignoring the protests of the owner that they hadn’t paid for their coffee.

<>

“Okay so we have a problem, and we need to rectify it,” Leliel stated quite simply, staring up at the moons and folding her arms, cutting quite the impressive figure despite her slight build. “Montmorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency… will you aid me in this endeavor?”

“... Uhhh…. Sure…?” Montmorency tilted her head, wondering why the hell she’d been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night all the way out to her family’s lands. At least Leliel had let her get dressed first. Meeting the Water Spirit naked would have been horrifically embarrassing. “What do you need me for anyway? I’m just a line class water mage, I can’t do anything like Louise, or Tabitha, or even Kirche.”

“You don’t need to do much except for summon what little fighting spirit you have and get ready to do something _really_ stupid,” Leliel answered, idly poking Montmorency’s chest and flickering her AT-Field. “Not right now, though. The stupid thing will happen in a few months. The fighting spirit is soon...ish. As soon as I can find… ah. There we go.”

“.... What… is that?” Montmorency gaped as Leliel’s shadow extended out, covering the lake in a layer of black before dropping what looked like a skeleton into the water, joined by massive, broken plates of crimson armor and a shining, broken core. “... Ohh… wait… is that…?”

“A dead, skeletonized Evangelion, long since abandoned to the mountains north-ish of here and buried as the skeleton of a war god.” Leliel answered, stepping out over the lake and humming, silently conversing with the Lake Spirit before shaking her head and grumbling. “Dammit. We need Yui for this. Or Lilith. I can’t stuff a non-Progenitor based soul into a core. They can, but not me.”

“.... Um…. should I be…. Doing something?” Montmorency asked, slowly inching away from the horrible looking four eyed skull before her. “And um…. Might I ask…?”

“This Evangelion used to belong to Louise’s great grandmother, yes,” Leliel answered, pinging out her AT-Field and not even flinching as Lilith appeared without any warning. “Lilith, could you shove the spirit into 02’s Core, please? I think Asuka’s mother’s soul has already departed given the damage.”

“.... Ahhh, I see what’s going on. Why not someone else, though?” Lilith asked, looking over at Montmorency with a critical eye. “Kirche, at least, would have been more appropriate. Even Louise.”

“Montmorency needs it most. She doesn’t have an Angel to protect her, or a high enough magic power to defend herself.”

“Kirche is a triangle. That’s not going to do anything against the oncoming threat.”

“Kirche is well on her way to being a square mage.”

“Couldn’t we have just fused Montmorency directly to the core, then?”

“I have a plan for that.”

“You sure didn’t say anything about that when you pinged me.”

“Could you at least _involve_ me when discussing things about me?” Montmorency asked, arms crossed.

“Nah.”

“Nope.”

“.... You two suck,” Montmorency groused, sighing as Leliel and Lilith continued conspiring without her input. Idly, she began wandering closer to the lake, examining the pieces of what used to be an Evangelion before, well… _something_ had torn it apart.

“Okay, so you know what you have to do?” Leliel asked Lilith as she opened up the dirac sea again, sucking the surrounding area and taking with it the lake, the spirit in the lake, the evangelion chunks, and, unfortunately, Montmorency herself.

“Hey! W-what are you doing!?” she shouted, struggling to get free of the black portal to no avail, her panic only growing as Lilith stepped in to join her. “W-why are you naked!? I already have a girlfriend dammit!”

“... I have a boyfriend, Montmorency.”

“.... Oh yeah. Forgot about that for a moment,” Montmorency muttered, her panic defused by the sudden realization that if she were going to be hurt or killed she would have been already, and that, despite all their power, pretty much every single Angel was more or less a harmless idiot.

“Yeah,” Lilith deadpanned, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

“.... Well…. Let’s get on with it then?”

“Mhmm.”

And the last thing Montmorency saw before everything went black was the sight of Leliel… who was also naked.

“... Do I need to be naked for this als-?”

And everything went black.


	55. Chapter 55

“Leliel?” Louise asked sweetly, barely held back by Kirche’s soft, squishy embrace trapping her arms and most of her body against Kirche’s bosom. 

“.... Yes?”

“Where’s my girlfriend?”

“... Holding… you?” 

“You know which one I mean.”

“Uhh…” Leliel paused, biting her lip and looking decidedly nervous as she looked around, going pale at the sight of Ramiel beginning to unfold behind Louise. “.... She’s…. In me?”

“.... And why, pray tell, is Monmon in the Dirac Sea?” Louise asked, her smile taking on a brittle, _dangerous_ edge to it.

“.... Um…. well… if it’s any consolation, the Spirit of Lagdorian Lake is in there…? And Lilith too…?” Leliel shrugged, subtly inching away from Ramiel, who had begun to hum _very_ loudly as her core glowed a dangerous, hellish red.

“And _why_ are they in there?” Louise asked impatiently, tapping her foot. “What exactly are you _doing_ in there? With her?”

“.... Making a magical Evangelion hybrid thing like Asuka but also way cooler because it’ll be able to shapeshift?”

“....”

“... I’m gonna go now.”

Louise narrowed her eyes. “And did you consult _her_ first? Or me, for that matter?”

“....” Without another word, Leliel proceeded to vanish into her own shadow, teleporting away to places unknown and leaving Louise absolutely _fuming_.

“Why that little-!” Louise growled, sighing as Kirche’s hold barely even budged.

“Darling, I’m sure that Monmon is fine,” Kirche sighed, patting Louise’s head and comforting her until she calmed down. “I think. I hope. Hm. Do you think that Zeruel would throttle Leliel for us if Monmon isn’t fine?”

“If she isn’t fine I’ll kill Leliel myself,” Louise muttered, clenching her fist until her knuckles turned white from the pressure.

“Fair enough.”

<>

It was a curious sort of introspection that Montmorency found herself doing while she floated around in the black depths of the Dirac Sea. 

For one, Leliel was there, yet not. Solid, yet not. Real, yet not. Like a shadow that could touch you, but also the entire area she was in. It was…. Weird. What made it weirder was that Leliel kept asking her various random questions.

“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your fighting spirit? Name your color preference? Do you think you can breathe liquid if you wanted? Do you think the water spirit likes you? Have you ever had problems with your mother?”

Weird indeed.

“... Um…. six? I like blue and pink…. Uh… I don’t _think_ I could breathe liquid since I’m not a fish… I think the water spirit likes me? It never seemed to get mad at me at all…. And um… no, I don’t think I’ve ever had any real problems with my mother.”

Montmorency felt a bit dizzy, actually, not from any kind of motion but from the sheer _lack_ of motion. Nothing at all moved in this black, dark space, and she couldn’t even feel her own body.

Did she even have a body anymore?

“Nope!” Leliel answered cheerfully.

Wait what?

“Oh yeah I can read your thoughts now that you have a proper AT-Field going on. It’s all clear as day written on your soul, y’know? You should work on that. Also, categorically false- your fighting spirit is like a three since you didn’t even have the metaphorical balls to stand up to a blob of water. Oh well, at least you had more fighting spirit than the Ikari Shinji I knew… well, by default at least. It went up to a six if he really felt like it.”

“....”

“Wait so if I don’t have a body, how am I talking to you?”

“You’re doing data projection, duh. Didn’t you notice?”

“.... It’s hard to notice anything when everything is a pitch black void and I’m talking to a LITERAL SHADOW ON THE VOID!”

“Sheesh, no need to get all testy like that. Aaanyway, Lilith did some pretty good work with this, I gotta say. A double core like Israfel, though I guess Izzy only had the one soul, unlike you… anyway, two souls in one core, a malleable liquid metal body, organic armor like Z-chan… y’know, the works. Though, I do have to wonder why she didn’t give you laser eyes. Probably because you can shapeshift, now that I think about it.”

“.... She what now.”

“You’ll see. Aaanyway, I guess I should give you the rundown on how doing the whole human form thing works, huh?”

“.... I would like to keep my human form, yes.”

“Great. Then brace for it.”

“What?”

Without a single moment to react, or even anything to react to, Montmorency found herself utterly blinded with knowledge (not that there was much to see, but still), a rush of information that penetrated the depths of her soul and left her reeling with sudden agony, screaming without a mouth, writhing without a body.

“... Huh, too much for you, I guess. Even Asuka handled that better. Note to self, get this girl some soul buffer training. You’re supposed to let it trickle in over a few seconds, not try to download it all at once. Dummy.”

“I… hate…. You….” came Montmorency’s oh so clever response, barely audible over the groaning agony echoing through her soul.

“No you don’t.” Leliel replied smugly.

“Yes, I do.”

“If you hated me we wouldn’t be here~”

“Shut the hell your mouth, motherbitch.”

“.... Inventive swearing, I’ll give you that much.”

“Eat fuck and shit yourself.”

“.... Are you doing this on purpose or did I actually addle your brain to the point that you can’t even form a coherent sentence longer than three words at a time?”

Montmorency just groaned, and tried very hard to project a verbal middle finger at Leliel.

“Yeah yeah, just get it all out. I’d advise that you don’t throw up in me, but you don’t even have a mouth right now. Or a body. Or rather, you do, but you’re currently stuck as a big blue ball right now while Leliel and Iruel get to work finishing assembling your body.”

Leliel paused, making a motion that would have been blinking if Montmorency could describe how the metaphysical motion of a pocket dimension could move like that.

“... Wait when did Lilith resurrect Iruel?”

_H O U R_

Montmorency flinched as the data packet rippled through the Dirac Sea, striking Leliel’s “body” as the other angel let out a hum of realization.

“Ahhh… so that’s why Lilith left two hours ago. Neato. Aaanyway, sit tight Monmon, you’ll be outta here in no time. Metaphorically. It’s gonna take like another week to get all this right. Maybe less, if we clone Iruel a couple times.”

_R E F U S A L_

“Okay, okay fine. No cloning. Sheesh, you’d think the living hivemind of nanoscopic organisms wouldn’t be so touch about cloning when its main method of spreading is by rapid asexual reproduction but noooo, Iruel has a weird thing about not being split into multiple colonies.”

“.... I hate…. Literally… everything… about… this….” Montmorency groaned.

“Hey! You’re getting better!”

“Fuck. You.”


	56. Chapter 56

“Look, all I’m saying is that we’re the only two angels who can consistently be up here! So we should hang out more!” Arael protested, trying to get Sahaquiel to actually listen to her instead of moping about in orbit.

“.... But I hate you,” Sahaquiel answered politely, gently pushing Arael’s hand off of her shoulder and idly adjusting her orbital path to achieve geosynchronous orbit over the Tristain Academy of Magic. “And also you suck.”

“.... Why do you hate me so,” Arael deadpanned, draping a hand over her forehead dramatically.

“Because you’re mean. And also very stupid. And smug. You remind me of your Master, and how much your Master is functionally similar to Ramiel’s Master’s great great grandmother, and thus remind me of Ramiel’s Master herself, who my Master very much dislikes.” Sahaquiel answered, projecting her AT-Field out in an immensely powerful bubble, shrouding herself behind a black orb dancing with false eye patterns.

“... What?”

“You’re mean and stupid and you remind me of Louise but like, way more unpleasant to look at. Also you’re weak as hell.”

“Excuse me!? I am _not_ weak!”

“You didn’t even move out of the way when Rei II threw a Lance into orbit.”

“I thought it would miss!”

“.... Are you _really_ that stupid?”

“.... Fuck you!”

<>

“Fuckin… hate everyone. Goddamn assholes hating on me for no reason,” Arael muttered as she wandered through the streets of Romalia, hair glowing brightly as a testament to her rage. Not even the constant mild headache of the collar’s magic reacting to her AT-Field could stop her from expressing her anger, though, and really the slowly growing pain only made it easier for her to just make her hair glow brighter and brighter. Oh if she could only just _rip the damn collar off_. But nooooo, her Master had to be some kind of pacifistic loser bitch who wouldn’t let her just _WIPE OUT THAT SMUG BLUE BITCH AND SHRED HER SOUL OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET!_

“GAAAHHH!!!! FUCK!!!!” Arael finally screamed, giving in and throwing a punch at the nearest wall, cratering it with her strength. Her catharsis was unfortunately short lived, though, as her hand summarily began to _throb_ in agony from being abused as such.

“FUUUUCCCKKK!! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!” she swore, clutching her hand and trying very, very hard to not make even more of a fool of herself as her hand healed slowly, _painfully_ slowly no thanks to the goddamn collar keeping her AT-Field from fully manifesting.

“... Arael, has it ever occurred to you… that we all hate you because you’re a raging bitch who thinks that a conversation is you forcefully digging through someone’s memory banks and leaving them a drooling, comatose, traumatized mess on the ground?” Leliel asked, stepping out from behind Arael with Montmorency slung over her back like a sack of potatoes before she dropped said girl into the Dirac Sea once again to take her elsewhere.

“Ffffffuuucck… you….” Arael hissed out, raising her middle finger at Leliel. “You of all people have no place to talk…”

“When I contacted Shinji, I did so as a two way dialogue. You simply mindraped Asuka until she fell into a coma and then nearly died when she was summoned to this world.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Arael asked, honestly confused.

“If you tone back on the mindrape and act like you aren’t a raging bitch with no social skills but instead the lonely, scared fourteen year old that you really are…. Maybe we’d actually talk to you more,” Leliel pointed out, sighing and rubbing her forehead as she unlocked Arael’s collar and threw it off into the Dirac Sea for disposal.

“...” Arael paused, sighing heavily and rubbing her throat as she stared at the ground. “... But everyone else is so strong… and I’m just… me. I can’t do anything. I’m not fast or strong, I don’t even have anything except my glow and my mindrape beam. All I ever did was stay far, far away from the planet. I didn’t even have a plan for retrieving the Progenitor.”

“Perhaps, but neither did most of us,” Leliel murmured, sitting down by Arael and patting her shoulder. “I know it isn’t in our nature to change our minds, but I think you should try it. Open up to people, let us see the real you instead of the foolish bitch you like to play at being.”

“.... okay…” Arael almost whispered, drawing her knees in and leaning on them, pretending that she wasn’t tearing up from Leliel’s display of empathy. “.... sorry for being such a bitch…”

“You’re young still. And still learning. It’s alright to make a few mistakes when you’ve got eternity to correct them,” Leliel smiled and helped Arael to her feet, then paused and tilted her head. “... but it’s perfectly fine to still be a little bit rude. After all, it’s how Ramiel works, and nobody really fucks with Ramiel.”

“The two Yuis do….?”

“Only because Ramiel’s all but forced herself into a low power state recently. If she went all out, the only being capable of withstanding the kind of firepower she brings to bear would be Lilith herself,” Leliel answered with a light shrug.

“... But I thought Zeruel was stronger than Ramiel?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. Ramiel’s got no melee or physical attack strategies worth a damn, and her AT-Field isn’t quite as strong as Zeruel’s. Buuut outside of _you_, no one else has anywhere near the sniping range of Ramiel, and Ramiel’s unique core geometry lets her output power on a scale matching a full speed orbital impact from _Sahaquiel_.”

Arael paled slightly (quite feat considering her normal near-luminescent paleness) as she did the math in her head, gulping as she realized just how much energy that would be. “.... That… that’d break the damn continent…. And she can do this…. How much?”

“At full power? About once every twenty or thirty seconds if she builds up a full charge and vents off the waste heat fast enough.”

“... I think I’m very, very glad that she’s running on five percent right now.”

“You and me both.”

“.... Wait, was the Ramiel from our timeline anywhere near that powerful?”

“Ehhh, almost, but the Ramiel we have now seems to be a couple magnitudes stronger. Our Ramiel didn’t have quite the same ability to pull infinite energy out of dimensional space.”

“... Well I guess that’s a relief.”

“Mhmm.”

Leliel looked around, then tilted her head once again. 

“Hey Arael, you wanna go get something to eat?”

“... Sure, it’s almost dinnertime anyway.”

And with a new rapport forged, the two angels went along their merry way, completely ignoring the rather shocked people around them.


	57. Chapter 57

“.... So would anyone like to explain to me why there’s _so many fucking angels_ now?” Louise asked very suddenly one day, realizing that there were now…

By the founder, it was at _least_ twenty of them! Including a second Ramiel! What the _fuck!?_

“Oh yeah, I’ve been resurrecting the dead Angels. Forgot to tell you,” Lilith answered, rising through the floor and patting Louise’s shoulder before drifting away to do… something.

“.... I’m really starting to hate this,” Louise sighed, rubbing her forehead and staring at her Familiar and said Familiar’s doppelganger, who seemed quite awestruck at the way Ramiel managed to do her weird dimensional geometry refraction thing. 

Aaand now the two of them were discussing the finer points of dimensional refraction and lensing their toroid generators through subspace to gather infinite energy from the quantum foam.

Or something like that at any rate, not that she could really parse anything when most of what they were saying was higher order quantum physics instead of the nice, simple magical metaphysics that she could actually understand.

ADAM she hated it when that kind of shit happened. Oh well. It’s not like she had to interact with most of them in the first place. Though they all seemed to want to interact with _her_.

Case in point, the snake-like figure of Raziel, coalescing into the familiar shape of one Mari Illustrious Makinami, though with a more bone white cast and red eyes, tattoos outlining the shape of her jaw to reference the way it could just split open in three in a quite horrifying manner. Unlike most other angels save Gaghiel, Raziel’s core was in her throat, replacing her uvula as it embedded itself halfway into the flesh of her throat in a manner that was… very disturbing to think about.

“Heeeeeyyyy~” Raziel purred, dangling from the ceiling like a goddamn fucking vampire.

“... Hi, Raziel,” Louise sighed, covering her eyes so she didn’t have to see Raziel’s underwear. “Didn’t we all tell you not to do that when you’re wearing a skirt?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Raziel asked, tilting her head in a manner that would suggest a broken neck from an actual human.

“.... Just… stop standing on the ceiling if you’re wearing a skirt. Please,” Louise sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and wishing intensely that these stupid Angels would all just learn how to follow proper social conduct, like not flashing their underwear at anyone who might walk by.

“Fiiiiine~” Raziel sighed, dropping down to the floor with a clatter of bones accompanying her movements. “Soooo~ Whatcha doooin’~?”

“... Wondering how in the founder’s name I’m going to corral over twenty Angels into not destroying most of the known world just through sheer incompetence,” Louise deadpanned.

“... Well that’s not being very fair,” Raziel muttered, furrowing her brow and shaking her head. “We’re reckless and crazy and don’t care about your human social structures, but we’re not stupid. The worst any of us will do is maybe traumatize a few people or break some buildings.”

“... Can you really speak for all your siblings, though?” Louise asked, sighing heavily and wondering why she thought any of this would be a good idea- oh wait, she never did. Lillith just resurrected some fifteen or so Angels seemingly on a goddamn whim!

“Well, noooo…. But most of them, yeah,” Raziel shrugged, then walked away, waving at Louise over her shoulder as she hopped out of a nearby open window. “Anyway, I gotta go. Sandalphon said she wanted to show me something cool!”

“.... Okay, well, at least she has manners when it comes to jumping out windows,” Louise sighed, staring out the window and gazing out over the wide lands of the Valliere estate. “... Y’know what, I suddenly regret coming back here.”

“In a way, so do I,” Karin muttered as she walked up and leaned against the wall next to Louise. “... Ah, that’s right… I missed your graduation ceremony didn’t I? Full honors, summa cum laude, wasn’t it?”

“Mhmm. Highest assignment grades, advancements in magical theory, etc etc,” Louise muttered, somehow not really feeling the greatness of her achievements. “I even got a few invitations to join the Tristain military as a researcher.”

“... I see,” Karin murmured, looking down at Louise with an unreadable expression on her face. “... You’ve come so far in so little time, haven’t you? Much further and much higher than I ever did, or ever dreamed of going.”

“Pretty hard not to when your Familiar is a sentient cube of country destroying power and her family, collectively, could probably wreck most of the planet with ease,” Louise deadpanned.

“True. Though I suppose your unique position only helps matters along.”

“The position where I’m basically the de facto leader of all these overpowered nutjobs or the position where I’m in the leader of a harem involving two queens, the half elf princess-queen of Albion, and the official Germanian royal ambassador who also has a legitimate claim to the throne of Emperor?”

“Yes.”

“... Yeah okay, fair enough,” Louise sighed, rubbing her forehead and wishing to high heaven that she could actually enjoy the company of her girlfriends. But noooo, Kirche was off challenging the Germanian prince for Albrecht’s throne with her Familiar and the two Sachiels, Tabitha actually had to go rule Gallia, Henrietta was preparing for her coronation ceremony next week, Tiffania and Mathilda were busy getting ready for _Tiffania’s_ coronation, and Montmorency was off visiting her family.

What a pain in the ass.

“... I don’t think I ever got to apologize for my behavior,” Karin spoke up suddenly, twiddling her thumbs and suddenly looking more awkward than Louise had ever seen her before. “I was… I was wrong to treat you the way I did. I wanted to make sure you were strong… I was so worried after Cattleya fell ill and you were born… you were so small and I almost thought that you would fall prey to the same illness. I just… I had wanted to ensure that you would be strong enough to take on the world… but all it seems I ever did was drag you down…”

“... Mother…” Louise sighed, shaking her head slowly and patting Karin’s shoulder. “I won’t say it’s fine, but… we’re past that now, I think. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive the fact that you pretty much alternated between neglecting me and hovering over me until I almost became a nervous wreck, but I’m stronger now that I’ve been away from you. I love you dearly, still, but… I’m pretty sure I should move out of the estate. Staying with you is… probably not good for the continued existence of the Valliere lands.”

“As you wish,” Karin sighed, finally deciding to show some vulnerability for once in her life and drawing Louise into a tight hug. “My little Louise… you’re all grown up now… I will miss you.”

“....” Louise shuddered, biting her lip and trying not to sob as she buried her face into her mother’s chest. “.... I love you… mama…”

“And I love you too. No matter how much I might not act like it… I love you.”

…

“Also when you move out could you take your…. compatriots… with you?”

“... Yeah, okay.”


	58. Chapter 58

“Everyone get ready, we approach our destination soon,” Kyuu spoke up suddenly, clapping her hands together as she hijacked the Wunder’s comm system to deliver her Very Important Announcement™. “Will all crewmembers please report to your battle stations. Major Katsuragi, Doctor Akagi, please report to the bridge of the Moon… preferably after you clean yourselves up and put on some clothes.”

Instant pandemonium erupted as hundreds of crew members scurried about, activating systems, shutting down others, running the generator, etc etc. Misato just groaned as she slipped out of bed, rubbing her eyes and hoping to god that she didn’t have lipstick stains on her everywhere.

“Do we _have_ to go see that bastard?” she grumbled, making her way to the shower while Ritsuko pretended that she wasn’t ogling Misato’s… everything, really. Her pseudo-girlfriend/fuckbuddy was hot, sue her.

“Unfortunately for our continued existence, I’m pretty sure that we actually need to go, Misato,” she sighed, lighting a cigarette and thanking whatever god that may have existed that the hydroponics lab on the Wunder had managed to grow a stable supply of tobacco. Ritsuko did wish that they had managed to grow the plants necessary for alcohol, though. She could have really gone for a good drink right about now.

“Damn, there goes my day plans,” Misato sighed.

“Our plan was just marathon sex and getting Maya to grab us food from the mess hall,” Ritsuko deadpanned, rolling her eyes and joining Misato in the shower. “Though, he never said _when_ we had to be there~”

“No he did not,” Misato purred.

“I hate literally everything about the Commander’s decision to bring these idiots along,” Kyuu sighed, rubbing her forehead and cutting the connection before she was scarred for life.

<>

“You’re late,” Gendo growled, the effect made far more terrifying considering that it came from a giant purple robot with four arms, even if said robot was pretty much crucified to a giant cross.

“... Well you never did specify a time that we had to be here,” Misato huffed, crossing her arms and staring defiantly back at Gendo’s giant purple mug.

“‘As soon as possible’ was the _implication,_” came the dry, booming voice.

“Yeah well we did come as soon as possible,” Misato shot back.

“In one sense of the word,” Kyuu deadpanned, rolling her eyes as she idly pushed Misato out of her way. “Commander. I regret to inform you that I am very much regretting the inclusion of WILLE to our expedition.”

“As am I. But they are still useful… for the time being,” Gendo responded, the massive head of his robotic form tilting downwards until the lighting of the hangar bay glinted off the lenses over his eyes and made them shine, just like he used to do with his glasses.

“... So that’s why you had those floodlights installed,” Kyuu muttered, shielding her eyes from the blinding glare.

“... Okay so why did you want us here in the first place?” Misato asked, raising her hand much like a student asking a question in class, waving it around to get the attention of Gendo and Kyuu once again.

“We are close to the exit point. When we arrive, we will likely be in deep space, possibly within high orbit of whatever planet that my wife and son have been abducted to. In all likelihood, they will not respond well to me, or the Black Moon. Or anything I have on board.”

“So you need WILLE to be the fairly nonthreatening envoy,” Ritsuko murmured, nodding as she tapped her chin with her hand, a thoughtful look on her face. “I see. And then what, we radio back to you once we find Shogoki?”

“Correct.”

“Great. Yeah sure, Misato and I can do that.”

“... Will there be booze?”

“Considering the level of advancement necessary to abduct an evangelion and several pilots through an inter-universal portal by any means at all… possibly. If they are even remotely analogous to humans,” Kyuu answered in lieu of Gendo, who had returned his focus to just gazing out into the infinite quantum abyss, using the core that now housed his soul to run the endless amounts of quantum calculations that kept the ship from being torn asunder.

“Sweet, I’m in!” Misato cheered, and then went off to go get a celebratory glass of grape juice down at the mess hall.

“... She’ll do anything for booze won’t she?” Kyuu deadpanned.

“After ten years sober? I’d kill a man for a good brandy right now.”

<>

“Alright everyone, we’ll be exiting the dimensional breach in ten minutes! Perform all final checks and get ready for takeoff!” Misato clapped her hands twice, watching on multiple screens as the crew of the Wunder got to work. “Kyuu, you ready for takeoff?”

“As ready as can be,” Kyuu answered, crossing her arms as she lounged around inside her entry plug and waited for the go-ahead to activate Unit 09. Outside, the swirling chaos of the abyss began to give way, slowly fading out into darkness as they began to exit the chaos and breach back into proper dimensional space once again. 

“I won’t miss that sight,” Misato sighed, blinking spots out of her vision from the ultra bright glare of the now vanished dimensional abyss, rubbing her eyes as the sudden darkness descended upon the bridge, tinted orange from the AT-Field surrounding the entire area. “It’s pretty in its own way but… way too chaotic for my tastes.”

“Mhmm… lots of new math to figure out, but I’d rather not have to look at it for too long. I feel like I’d go crazy if I stared too long,” Ritsuko nodded, sipping a mug of instant coffee and taking her place next to Misato.

“You won’t. Possibly. After all, you’re here now aren’t you?” Kyuu cut in, twiddling her thumbs and staring jealously at Ritsuko’s coffee. “.... Perhaps I should have eaten a more proper breakfast this morning.”

“Coffee is a shit substitute for nutrient bars in terms of actually getting a proper meal, but I’m not surprised even instant coffee would alert that reaction. You guys really don’t seem to have room for anything resembling agriculture in here, with all the factory lines full of MP Evas and all,” Ritsuko muttered, shaking her head slightly. “But yeah, I know where you’re coming from.”

_ATTENTION: BREACHING DIMENSIONAL BARRIER IN T-MINUS: FIVE SECONDS_

“Showtime people, let’s bring up those engines!” Misato called out, wincing as pitch black emptiness gave way to a view full of stars, nearly blinding in its brightness, especially with the literal sun that she could see in the distance. “Bridge crew, what do you see?”

“Several active AT-Fields, third planet, two moons!”

“Angels?”

“Affirmative, several instances of pattern blue, even in orbit!”

“Damn, they have Angels here too,” Misato muttered, growling quietly as she clutched her cross necklace in her hands. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll find our own way if we have to. Kyuu, start ‘er up!”

“Affirmative.”

And with a flex of Unit 09’s AT-Field, the AAA Wunder lifted out of the docking bay and into deep space. Another flex opened up a wormhole before them, and broke open the sky.


	59. Chapter 59

Louise gasped suddenly and fell to her knees. “ADAM,” she gasped, “what was [i]that?[/i]”

“A dimensional breach,” Leliel said grimly, walking out of her shadow. “They’re almost here.”

Louise blinked. Then she glared at Leliel. “They? They [i]who?[/i] Is that in any way related to why you turned Monmon into an Eva a month ago?”

Leliel stared. “The alternate Gendo and his abominations. Weren’t you paying any attention?”

“Weren’t you content to not include me in any of that bullshit?” Louise fired back.

“Well yes, but that’s because we knew you’d freak out and start doing really stupid stuff and try to plan some kind of big counter attack or whatever,” Leliel shrugged, then let her shadow spread out and swallow the area, bringing the two of them to a very large, empty field deep in the heart of Tristain, not actually too far away from the Academy, if Louise wasn’t mistaken.

“Everyone! We have one hour! Let’s get ready!” Leliel called out, instantly receiving a roar of delight from the twenty-some assembled Angels and various other people scattered about.

“... We’re all going to die,” Louise grumbled, rubbing her forehead as she watched the immediate mounting chaos. 

“Aww, have some faith in us Master,” Ramiel chuckled, draping herself over Louise’s shoulders while her siblings began to tear up the surrounding area- Azariel summoned rainclouds, Zeruels one and two let their arms wave around, Sandalphon made a [i]fucking volcano[/i], etc etc. “We may not be good at the whole ‘act like people’ thing, but we’re [i]Angels[/i]. Y’know, the strongest motherfuckers around! We’re [i]good[/i] at fighting and killing things that we don’t like… eh, sorta. Unless some bitch with a nice ass comes along.”

“Just a reminder that we’re [i]both[/i] married!” Yui Ikari responded, raising a gargantuan middle finger from where she stood off to the side, stretching out her limbs in evangelion form, not that it was super necessary. From inside her entry plug, Yui Ayanami just shrugged and rolled her shoulders.

“And what if we end up fighting against ‘some bitch with a nice ass’ as you so crudely put?” Louise snarked right back at her Familiar.

“Well, unless Yui decides to just attack us outright, then I’m pretty sure we’re safe from that.” Ramiel shrugged, pinching Louise’s cheek and smiling. “Loosen up a little bit, Master. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

[center]<>[/center]

“Leliel,” Lilith murmured, gazing thoughtfully up at the sky, her angelic eyes piercing through the atmosphere and watching as the Black Moon approached ever closer. “How many of us will die?”

“... Well…. Hopefully no one,” Leliel shrugged, frowning as she stretched her awareness through spacetime, rippling oddly as she took in the infinite expanse of eternity and tilted her head. “Hmm…. When you say die, do you mean permanently or temporarily?”

“I would prefer not to die in the first place. Once was enough,” Lilith deadpanned, rubbing her neck where, even after regenerating her entire body from her rotted, skeletal head, there remained a thin scar as evidence of what had happened to her at the height of her power.

“Perhaps, perhaps. But then again, if you die, we’re all pretty much fucked,” Leliel shrugged, then began counting on her fingers before thinking better of it. “Well, I can’t say actually. I mean I could give you a solid answer if I tried to move through fourth dimensional space on my own but that’d… well that’d be a bit of a problem since I’d be leaving you all behind to die.”

“Best not to, then,” Lilith deadpanned, sighing and rubbing her brow. “Wonderful. Just wonderful. Absolutely great. An unknown amount of enemies are on our doorstep, the alternate version of Gendo fucking Ikari is coming with blood on his mind, and we’re all sitting around having what might as well be a picnic.”

“Well there’s no food around here so it’s not rea- no, Bardiel and Asuka brought lunch. Okay yeah it is a picnic, but to be fair, we have many, many ways to cripple any kind of progenitor based technology in our group alone, and magic. So… all things considered, it should end just fine.”

Murphy heard. Murphy listened. Murphy struck.

The sky ripped open. Like a vulture awaiting its prey’s expiry, an abomination of a battleship soared out of a hole in the sky, its AT-field ([i]AT-field???[/i]) flaring dangerously.

Lilith glared at Leliel sardonically. “Do you feel clever often?”

“Actually yes. That was the [i]perfect[/i] timing and I’ve been rehearsing that for [i]hours[/i],” Leliel smiled, hands behind her back as she just sort of waved her hand at the immediate barrage of massive lasers that struck down the ship within mere seconds, sending the entire thing crashing down out of sight behind a large hill, while a large orange-ish looking thing descended from where it had been anchored to the ship, having apparently provided the unfortunately mostly useless AT-Field that had once kept the alien, almost organic looking craft in the air.

“... Oh that is just [i]foul[/i] Leliel muttered as the thing descended, uncurling into the form of the Mark.09 Evangelion, its armor peeling off and exposing the core material beneath, crystalline and bleeding hot rivers of LCL onto the grassy plains below.

“Are we starting already? We haven’t even finished lunch!” Armisael groused from where the former picnic had been. She stared mournfully at the remains of what had been quite a nice lunch before the heat and shockwaves from the combined blasts of two Ramiels, two Zeruels, and several other angels thrown in for good measure, had torn it all away and left nothing but a smattering of ash and half a sandwich that Armisael summarily chucked onto the ground in a fit of petulant rage.

“Well, yes,” Leliel answered, pointing at the horrid monstrosity hanging in the air with an almost dismissive wave. “Or did you not see the giant airship that left that hanging around?”

“.... Oh. Ew. I really hate that,” Armisael grumbled, pulling a disgusted face and cheering when Zeruel and other Zeruel took the time and used their combined might to quickly batter, dismember, and throw the disgusting Evangelion looking thing far over the horizon.

“... Well that takes care of the first wave of cannon fodder,” Leliel nodded decisively as the sky began to open up again, a swirling portal of darkness that tore through space in a way that made even [i]her[/i] shiver from how wrong it felt.

“Oh no. Oh no no no… not [i]that[/i],” Lilith whispered, taking a step back as the great and terrible vessel that was the Black Moon- not her Black Moon but the Black Moon all the same- exited through the gaping hole in space.

“Mhmm. Hope everyone’s had their wills updated because we… might end up dying. Just a few of us. Maybe.”

“Fuck.”

[center]<>[/center]

[i]”Commander…. The inhabitants are hostile… very much so. The crew of the Wunder is alive, but barely. The Mark 09 is… somewhere. It is heavily damaged, and I don’t think I can return to combat any time soon. Apologies, Comma-”[/i]

Gendo would have grit his teeth if he were able, a sudden surge of fury welling up within as the connection to Kyuu cut out as the Mark.09 died, the screens showing the outside zooming in and only adding to his mounting rage as he saw the form of his wife, Unit-01, readied against him, surrounded by Angels familiar and unfamiliar.

So that was how it was, he thought darkly, creaking in his docking bay as his joints flexed.

Wordlessly, he sent out the command.

All units.

Full Assault.

Retrieve Unit-01 or die trying.

[center]<>[/center]

Miles away, watching with his hands clasped behind him and staring dispassionately as the mages of the group scrambled to evacuate the surrounding towns, the angels began to frantically prepare for a counterattack as countless abominations swarmed out of the mountainous Black Moon, Gendo stood, the faintest smirk on his lips as his glasses caught the sun.

“And so it begins,” he murmured, pushing up his glasses with his middle finger in a silent, unseen jab at his counterpart.

“The beginning of the end.”


	60. Chapter 60

There was no time for thought. No time for jokes. No humor nor words to be spoken.

Hot beams of crimson light cut across the sky, splattering and splashing across thousands of flecks of orange, dissipating in sparks of rainbow light as they deflected the unstoppable heat and fury of the two Ramiels. Buzzing through the air like an endless swarm of locusts, the Evangelion 44A units created a terrible racket, their spears shining ominously even in the darkened skies.

The clouds swirled, lit with horrible crimson fury, like ripples in a pond as they surrounded the hellish wormhole held open by Gendo Ikari’s will alone as the Black Moon fully entered the skies above Tristain as though it were an unearthly portent of divine judgement.

Louise screamed as the noise became overwhelming, the sheer winds blowing away houses if not for the strength of her spells, the walls of ice that Tabitha erected, the earthen trenches that Cattleya dug to keep the people safe.

Hell.

Hell on Halkeginia.

And through her actions, indirectly, she had brought it into the world.

Unearthly shrikes, bays and howls thundered, screams that were inhuman for all that they were far too human. The howling screams of Ramiel as she fired, the quiet whisper of displaced air as her lesser alternate responded in kind. Zeruel’s unearthly moans as she crushed wave after wave of airborne drone, her bladed arms lashing out in a forest of tendrils, her other self letting out crackling gurgles of sinewy bone as her own papery arms sliced mechanical abomination in twain.

A flood of red soaked the ground, sickly sweet, hot and bitter, salty and sticky as it puddled on the ground and steamed away, choking the life from the ground. Burning ozone filled the air, crackles of lightning and bursts of holy light as the twin Sachiels let loose thunderous blasts from their eyes, striking down white birds from the skies and pouncing on them so that they could destroy those horrid false cores without souls, crushing grinning skulls with too large lips and ugly crooked smiles.

Hell. Horrid, nightmarish hell.

Every missed shot dissipated into the air as a terrible dry heat, withering the crops, setting wooden homes aflame, throwing wind about such that not even Karin the Heavy Wind could hold up against such a repeated assault of fire and death. 

Explosions rocked the land, walking beasts with bulbous bodies plugged into even more titanic, twisted abominations of flesh and metal that blasted out cacophonous projectiles of light that barely, just barely splashed off of the AT-Fields of the combined angels.

Leliel’s shadow rose into the air, a striped sphere of black and white as her presence stretched out over the area, further than it had ever gone before. Rippling tendrils of black flashed through the air, snatching the drones and birds from the air and sinking them into the black mass, cutting the legs out from the walking turrets and their mobile batteries. 

The false evangelions were downed in scores, hundreds of mechanical corpses smashing into the ground, flayed, burnt, incinerated, dismembered.

But yet there came more and more, an endless army that poured forth, devoured its own dead and replaced them with living, corpselike flesh. A false evangelion with four legs like a centaur, decapitated and core pierced, was rent asunder and its parts used to repair a walking turret. The twin bodies of Israfel flashed around, undying for their separation, dancing and slicing corpses to ribbons as they sought to stymie the endless flood of bodies, and yet were unable to.

There were simply too many.

And yet, they fought on. Azariel swamped the area, sending great streams of water blasting out of the ground, weaving them through the air in a liquid barrier, letting Gaghiel swim through the massive torrents and crush the swarming 44A units as they flew too close. Sandalphon retreated underground, boiling the earth and using her AT-Field to blast great chunks of lava into the air as a distraction, the heat of the eruption sizzling the air and tinging the sky with clouds of ash that darkened the area further.

Matarael screeched out in defiance as the MP Evas drew in closer to the town, its AT-Field lashing out and shutting down their systems, sending the monstrosities crashing to the ground whereupon its acid blood ate through their cores and killed them.

It wasn’t enough. Not the cutting whips of the twin Shamshels, the thunderous cacophony of endless, repeated eyeblasts, the strength of the two Zeruels, the furious power of the twin Ramiels.

Not even the Evangelions, powerful though they were, could stop the unending tide. For though their power was godly, their minds were only human, and even Bardiel and Asuka could only infect and control so many drones at once before the remnants flew in too close, almost piercing their cores with their false Lances. And yet, they screamed. They roared their defiance. Four arms lashed out with divine fury, driving vibrating progressive knives into the twin cores of the 44A units, blocking the pepper-blast shots of the 04B units, annihilating the 04A units when they got too close and nearly drilled through her AT-Field.

Hell.

It was Hell.

The screams of the people as they were battered about, the torn asunder landscape coated in the deepest black, the heat and wind that shook the world itself in blooms of flame that swallowed the sky, the hellish ship in the sky, unlike anything ever seen before.

Gods and monsters fought upon this battlefield, heedless of what they destroyed in their wake. Ramiel’s beams cut swathes through the sky, but even her AT-Field couldn’t hold out forever as the 04A units swarmed around in endless amounts, drilling against the rainbow patterned plane of her soul like biting ticks. Zeruel’s arms were mighty and strong, decapitating and dismembering the mechanical monstrosities as they came, but not even she could handle the constant swarms that surrounded her, biting and stabbing, stinging her invulnerable flesh until destroyed.

They did well.

Too well, even.

In the briefest moment of hesitation, the slightest hitching of breath as energy use began to outstrip energy production, the first angel fell, buried screaming underneath a great, devouring pile of pale, corpselike birds that ripped her flesh and tore her AT-Field apart, biting and gnawing as she screamed and screamed and screamed until…

Silence. An eruption of blood.

Matariel died.

Pattern Blue silenced.

Louise _screamed_.


	61. Chapter 61

A scream that shook the earth, wailing in agony before it was silenced.

A moment of hesitation that lasted far too long.

The tides began to turn.

AT-Fields began to weaken as their users were demoralized, shattering apart as the angels, as one, mourned the loss of their sibling.

And yet, rage.

Screaming, unyielding rage. 

A god rose upon the battlefield, her face twisted in a mix of pain and rage that only a mother could express. 

Lilith _roared_ as she stretched her presence, her wings flaring out wide as she swiped her hand and a great and terrible wind _shrieked_ into existence, crushing all the abominations against the ground, twisting their bodies and shredding the metal armor they wore around their cores. She lashed out with her AT-Field, throwing her head back with an unholy scream as her arms spread wide and an orb of blood formed before her, swirling as it drew up the oceans of blood from the ground, tearing the corpses of the false evas apart and taking in their twisted, fake souls.

Lilith paused with a helpless gasp, trembling in disgust as she swallowed the false- no. Not false. Twisted and wrong, horridly damaged, destroyed, almost unrecognizable, but not false.

For what force in the universe besides the true progenitors, the creators of the seeds could _create_ souls from the ether?

No one.

Lilith screamed her raw disgust as she beheld the the twisted souls of what used to be humanity, defiled and blackened, crushed and dismembered from being forced into these… these… _abominations._

Another roar tore through her throat, raw and full of emotion as she engulfed the orb and began to reach for the Black Moon, a hideous snarl on her face as she looked at the twisted, horrible soul of Gendo Ikari and found him _wanting_.

But the unthinkable happened.

She stopped.

Lilith froze, choking on air as she stared at the Lance of Longinus protruding from her chest, the twin prongs framing the smooth crystal of her core. She fell, eyes unseeing as her ascension halted once more, crashing to the ground amidst a shower of blood as yet more false lances impaled her and crucified her to the unyielding ground, trapping a shrieking Leliel beneath her inert body as the prongs of the lances pierced into the shadowy depths of the Dirac Sea.

“No… no no no no NO!” Shinji screamed, hyperventilating as he clutched his skull, purple fingers denting the armor of his helmet as fury bubbled from within, joined in his rage by Rei, his Rei as she gripped the controls of the entry plug and let out an animalistic _howl_. Unit-01 rose into the air amidst a storm of light, glowing as brilliant wings of light flashed from his back and a halo sprung above him, joined by Yui Ikari who wore similar wings in bloody red.

But something was wrong.

“Ayanami what do you think you’re doing!?” Yui Ikari suddenly shrieked, convulsing in midair as her AT-Field flickered. “What- no! NO! DON’T! S-STOP!”

“Sorry Ikari, but this isn’t anything personal. Well, I guess it _is_ personal, but, well… fuck it, I’ve worked far too long and far too hard to let my plans go to waste now! Good night, bitch!” Yui Ayanami’s voice came through as Yui Ikari _screamed_, the light in her titanic body’s eyes going dim before glowing once again, not in the bright crimson of Yui Ikari’s gaze, but a pale, sickly yellow as Yui Ayanami took over and tackled Shinji to the ground with a loud cackle of delight.

“Oh I forgot how good it feels to be an Evangelion!” she crowed, battering Shinji about with her AT-Field, laughing maniacally as she threw him away over a hill.

“She’s gone nuts!” Rei-00 breathed out, gritting her teeth as she and Rei I came to a silent rapport, taking the body of the smallest, weakest angel into their hand from where the angel had been hidden away. “Iruel! Stop her before she kills Shinji!”

“W-wha-!?” Iruel yelped, barely managing a surprised look before she was flung through the air as a tiny glob of nanoscopic organisms that splattered across Yui Ayanami’s back and-

“NO!” Yui Ayanami immediately froze up as Iruel hacked into the Eva body’s systems, sinking the limiters into pliant flesh and cutting power to the limbs. “NO NO NO! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! I DIDN’T- I DIDN’T WORK THIS HARD JUST TO GET STOPPED BY A FUCKING PUDDLE OF RUST!” 

Iruel screamed as Yui Ayanami powered through her efforts, barely managing to stay ahead of the efforts to pry her off as she ate through armor plating and infected bare tissue, excreting chemicals that deadened nerves and shut down muscles.

“Hold on, I’m coming to help!” Bardiel roared, barely audible before commandeered 44A unit crashed into Yui Ayanami and engulfed it in a wave of gray fungal mass, the twin angels working in concert against Yui’s thrashing, eating through the flesh of the evangelion and disconnecting the core from the body until all that was left was the core of Yui Ikari, hovering and inert inside the empty chest cavity of Unit 01’s armor, and Yui Ayanami, spitting expletives from inside a fungus filled entry plug, bound and unable to move as the plug ejected from the emptied corpse and struck the ground.

A sigh of relief echoed across as the assembled angels lowered their guard for a moment. Shinji groaned from the ground as he stood back up, limping slightly from where Yui Ayanami had nearly shattered his knee before Rei had managed to stop it by snapping out their AT-Field.

“What… the fuck… was that…?” Shinji asked, panting as he looked down at the entry plug that held his mother. “Why…. Why would you do that, mother? We’re already under attack and you… you just decided to turn on all of us like that!? Why!? What possible reason could you have that justifies attacking your own son!?”

Yui Ayanami just let out a mirthless chuckle, her shoulders shaking before letting out a full blown mad cackle. 

“Oh my son…. There’s so much more going on here than you’re aware of! I was _never_ on your side! The only reason why I helped you all out for so long was to bring _him_ here.”

“Him… father!?” Shinji gasped immediately turning his head back to the hovering Black Moon, and the figure that stood above it, silhouetted in fire by the setting sun and its shimmering AT-Field.

“No…”

“Yes.” Gendo Ikari answered, the four arms of Evangelion Unit 13 raised in parody of a holy figure as the Black Moon opened once more, and the endless tide of buzzing, shrieking, wailing drones filled the air again.

With but a single motion, the attack resumed, and Gendo Ikari descended.


	62. Chapter 62

Louise could only watch in open horror as the attack resumed. With so much of the countryside already shattered, with dozens of towns only just barely evacuated in time, with so much land torn apart and lives lost, so much blood spilled, so many corpses, with the scent of death already so thick in the air, with so much hellish fire… it still wasn’t over.

“I did this,” she whispered, horrified and clutching onto Tabitha for dear life as they watched the demonic looking visage of Gendo Ikari, Evangelion Unit 13, take on not one, not two, but _three_ Evangelions at once, not even breaking his stride as he tossed them aside one by one.

A single palm strike shattered Shinji’s chest armor, driving metal shards into his chest in a spray of blood, the damage just barely missing his core. A single, heavy blow assisted by an _ungodly_ powerful AT-Field simply removed Rei-00’s head and took her down in an instant.

Asuka _screamed_ as Gendo’s eyes flashed and she and Bardiel both _burned_ and their steaming body shattered a small hill when they fell.

The rest of the angels, powerful though they were, couldn’t stop him. Couldn’t divert their attention for even a moment as they continued destroying the seemingly endless swarm of 04A and 44A units pouring from the Black Moon in a swarm so dense they darkened the already clouded sky. Thunderous roars of light and fury shook the earth, craters the size of cities appearing in a flash of heat and sound, cross shaped eruptions blasting into the sky until they touched the clouds.

Slowly, they began to wipe out the remaining abominations.

But Gendo remained untouched, save for the barest scars across his armor as Shinji’s fury splashed across his AT-Field and just barely punched through, their wills, their rage, their strength equal if not for the fact that Shinji couldn’t bring himself to kill Gendo. 

And so, 01 against 13, the two titans faced off again, free from distraction, free from noise.

Just the pure rage of a son scorned, a daughter abandoned against a husband who had lost his everything not once, but _twice_.

Gendo hardened his heart, and his four eyes glowed with crimson fury.

Shinji and Rei hardened their hearts, and their eyes glowed white with the force of their wills combined.

Lightning struck the earth, torrents of rain crashing down as the very earth responded to their power. The drones hovered back, unable to get in close against the shimmering wall of light that was their clashing souls.

Tinged with fury, tinged with hate, full of determination. Gendo’s will was of iron and steel, adamantium unbreakable by any force in this world.

Passion and anger, the heat and fury of neglected children and an unbreakable will to survive. Shinji and Rei held their souls as the unblockable spear to Gendo’s impenetrable shield.

They clashed.

Violet armor crashed against its similar twin, four solid arms meeting two solid and two glowing with orange light.

Four eyes full of cold, unfeeling determination met against two eyes full of heat and passion.

The world _broke_.

The clouds blew away in an instant, and the sky became crimson rippled with black, an empty portal across space and time opening as their souls rent the universe asunder and created the Door of Guf.

They struck against each other, Unit 01 against Unit 13, fists flying with titanic blows, the very wind of which almost seemed strong enough to cause a hurricane in its wake. Shinji was sloppy, more strength than skill even with Rei guiding his blows. Gendo was skillful, weaker though his frame may have been physically, he brushed aside Shinji’s blows despite not fighting for years. They were evenly matched, giving and taking blows in equal measure.

Shinji tore apart Gendo’s shoulder pylons, Gendo ripped off Shinji’s torso armor. Shinji shattered Gendo’s leg with a powerful kick, and Gendo broke one of Shinji’s arms.

All the while, Shinji and Rei screamed as one, while Gendo simply stood in silence, a hellish figure of black and purple, glowing with crimson light from the bands across his armored body. 

Gray flesh was exposed and torn away, great gouts of blood coating both evangelions in equal measure.

Around them, the angels and false evangelions could only watch, unable to get in close, unable to do anything as the two gods dueled.

The stalemate was broken in an instant, a shaft of light piercing from the heavens in a wave of solid gold, shining down upon Gendo backed by a heavenly chorus.

Arael screamed, forcing her AT-Field against Gendo’s and drilling through in an instant as she turned his mind against him, forcing him to stagger, forcing him to _kneel_

Gendo _screamed_.

He screamed and screamed, the voice tearing from his throat in animalistic howls, more beast than man as Arael tortured his mind, dug up his trauma, his worst fears, his nightmares, every last bit of pain in his soul and made them into knives against the light of his soul, tearing him apart and skinning him down to the metaphorical _bone_.

The AT-Field dissipated away like nothing as Gendo fell, crashing to the ground as the sky returned to a cheerful, almost strange looking blue.

The remaining drones were swiftly wiped away without Gendo to guide them, their corpses destroyed and turned to ash in an instant.

Shinji slumped over and caught his breath, panting heavily as he flexed his AT-Field and started to heal. Silently, the question rose up on everyone’s mind.

Was it over? 

Was Gendo as defeated as he looked?

Shinji slowly looked down at the comatose, armored carcass that was supposedly his father.

What had driven him to such lengths? Why, why attack in such a manner, why attack so hatefully and without regard for life? 

Why?

A snapping hiss of light shocked him out of his reverie as a thunderous blast of light streaked by a moment later, barely missing him as it annihilated Gendo’s head.

“That should keep him down even longer, I think,” Ramiel muttered, humming and vibrating as her superstructure slowly repaired itself from the thousands of microfractures and gouges it had taken from the thousands of drones. “Well, guess all that’s left to do is take out that ugly-ass Moon, right?”

Gendo _moved_.


	63. Chapter 63

Without warning, without any sign of life, Gendo arose once more, lashing out and gripping Shinji’s head in his hands. His AT-Field _throbbed_ with hate, a powerful rippling wave of orange so dark it almost seemed red. Shinji screamed as the hands crushed down, pulling and tearing and squeezing until- until.

Rei _screamed_ as Shinji ejected his plug, throwing her far away from the fight as Gendo _tore the head from his shoulders_ and placed it upon his own, growling low in his throat, bestial and crude.

His rage made him flare red, but his hate caused his entire body to glow. 

White, shining white until it blotted out all other details. A titan, a giant of light with wings shaped like halos upon his back, rainbow light shining as he went _berserk_ and his core pumped out a thunderous amount of energy.

“KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!” Ramiel shrieked, immediately opening fire at full power, pumping out enough energy to break a continent. 

It was all for naught.

Amidst the hail of fire, Gendo stood stock still, barely reacting even as the firepower tore through his AT-Field and shattered his body. The damage only regrew in an instant, and his AT-Field snapped back in mere moments, deflecting the beams, the blasts, the spears of ice, the eruptions of lava.

His eyes flashed, and where Gaghiel once stood, a crater appeared, erupting a moment later in a blaze of flame that carried her screams into the air as she died.

The same happened to Iruel, Bardiel, both Sachiels, Shamshel, Israfel. They were helpless before the divine might of an ascended ADAM.

But like the hammer of god, Sahaquiel descended.

Orange limbs stretched out across the sky before wrapping around the core body, her AT-Field shimmering with power as she accelerated to far beyond terminal velocity and _smote the ground where Gendo stood._

Louise couldn’t breathe.

Even from beyond the border of Gallia, hundreds of kilometers away from the fight, even after Tabitha had pushed them so far, so quickly. Even after they had used every last effort they could to evacuate the entire _country_...

The impact _rocked the earth_.

The dust cloud shot into the sky so far it became a smoky black column into space.

The shockwave and fireball it created _engulfed all of Tristain_.

Sahaquiel was dead, core shattered by the pure _force_ of her impact.

Arael was dead, shot from the sky mere moments after Gendo had awakened again by… something.

The other angels were… barely holding on.

Lilith was alive, her passive AT-Field barely enough to keep herself from being destroyed by Sahaquiel’s impact, though the shockwave had destroyed most of the lance pinning her and Leliel down. Ramiel- _her_ Ramiel, still lived. Zeruel as well, if only just barely. Yui Ayanami, that bitch, was somehow still alive despite the crater that was now Tristain slowly filling with water as the ocean began to flood in.

She couldn’t breathe.

There was too much dust. Too many dead.

She heard the screams of so many souls as they were wiped away from that last ditch effort to kill Gendo.

And it hadn’t even worked.

An impact so powerful that it turned an entire country into a _crater_, and yet…

Gendo still lived. Battered, broken, but still glowing with power despite the hit he took.

Louise couldn’t breathe.

Tabitha held her tight and sobbed.

Where were they?

Where was Kirche, Tiffania, Montmorency, Henrietta, Mathilda?

Where was her mother, her father, her sisters?

Mari, Josette, Colbert?

Anyone?

She couldn’t feel anyone.

“I did this…” Louise whispered, choking on her own tears and guilt as she and Tabitha beheld the sight before them.

An empty crater that used to be her home, her school, her _country_. And now, it was a crater, molten and steaming, filling with water, a column of ash so high it blocked out the sun.

She couldn’t breathe.

There was too much ash in her mouth, too much smoke in her lungs. She struggled to form the words, but they came eventually, halting. Slowly, as she _pulled_ in a way she never had before. 

Magic flooded through her veins as her core shone with light, her AT-Field mixing with the power that flowed through her like an ocean forced through a firehose.

“S-sacred Void… hear my plea.

P-please… fix this… fix this horror.

Sacred Void! Hear my plea! I cast upon the world my soul! My heart! My magic! Please… _please_... please… fix this… somehow...”

She sobbed as she let her magic run wild, erupting from her core in a blast of white that rippled out and made her _scream_.

A rippling orb of white formed before her, drawing in the souls of the dead, her core cracking, chipping away at the sheer power she channeled through her body.

She screamed and screamed as the battle raged on hundreds of kilometers away, not even paying attention as streams of light flew into the sphere, collecting the souls of the dead before the entire orb sank into her chest, into her core.

She screamed, and fell silent.

Tabitha simply clutched her close, not sure what her girlfriend did to do such damage to herself, but holding onto her nonetheless.

Her core pulsed, and the battle raged on.

Tabitha only had eyes for Louise, and ignored the combat below, ignored the wild titan of light that was Gendo, ignored the explosions of light that destroyed what used to be Tristain even further, ignored the cacophonous roar of sound that still rung her ears like bells.

“Louise… we need to go…” she muttered to nobody but herself, patting Sylphid’s neck and urging them to fly south, into the heart of Gallia. The battle hadn’t touched there yet, and hopefully wouldn’t ever. But even then, the dust…

Tabitha coughed quietly, ignoring the blood on her hands as the ash sliced her lungs.

It wasn’t as painful as the thought of losing Louise anyway.


	64. Chapter 64

“Please… my love… please wake up,” Tabitha whispered, hovering by Louise’s side. She couldn’t breathe, not as long as Louise stayed in her coma. The love of her life, the one who dragged her from the darkness and into the light, the one who had taken one look at her and thought that she was worth it, that she was worthy of love.

And yet, here and now, there she was, lying on a bed, hair spread out around her head like a halo of pink.

Tabitha swallowed thickly, tasting nothing but ash and blood in her mouth. Oh how she wished Louise were merely asleep, framed by those perfect locks around her beautiful face.

Tears flowed gently from her eyes, hot and wet, trailing down her face and leaving her skin cold with their passing. Her eyes stung, and though she wiped her tears away, though she wetted her face with a cloth one of the maids had given her… it wasn’t enough to stop the tears, flowing endlessly as she gazed upon the still face of Louise, wishing in her heart that she could see her love smile again, open her eyes, anything but lie there in deathlike sleep, the only sign of life her the gentle rise and fall of her chest, the pulsing of her core, the weak flutter of her heart.

Tabitha coughed into her hand, tasting the acrid tang of burnt metal on her tongue and grimacing. Her heart _twisted_, and though every breath was pain in her chest, she pressed on. Her hand curled against Louise’s as she finally turned away, unable to bear the stillness any longer.

In the distance, she could still see that hellish column of ash, the wall of debris that would have rippled out over all of Halkeginia suspended in midair by a force she could not comprehend. A horrid reminder of all the death and destruction the angels brought with them, messengers of a cruel and uncaring race of gods and bringers of what might as well have been the literal devil by their own actions.

It was like a spike in her chest, the dread that formed. Would Halkeginia survive? Or would they all be wiped off the face of the earth by these titanic beings, whose petty farce of a war had already destroyed Tristain and killed tens of thousands of innocent souls?

Would she survive? Would Louise?

Tabitha didn’t know, but if these were to be her last moments…

She chuckled painfully, feeling a lump in her throat as she took a sip from a glass of water, one that didn’t go away no matter how much she drank.

“Do you…. Do you remember when we first met? Back in first year? Even back then, you were… brilliant. You knew more than even I did, even if your magic was only good for explosions back then,” Tabitha murmured, lacing her fingers through Louise’s and clasping their hands together, almost as if she were praying, lowering her head until she could press a gentle kiss to her lover’s knuckles. “You were assigned to be my theory tutor since no one else could keep up when I had a question… and they assigned me to be your practical tutor until they realized it wouldn’t work. I wish they could see you now, all our classmates who called you a Zero… they were wrong, so, so wrong.”

Tabitha sniffled quietly, trying not to throw up as a sudden wave of nausea spiked through her guts and made her sway in place, blood dripping from her nose as her mind began to fog over.

“I know we had our rough spots, when I became friends with Kirche… when you couldn’t do magic… but… I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t change the way we are now for anything. Because… Because my love, you… you’re my all. My everything. My spring blossom, my dearest sunlight, the fire of my life… I love you more than you could ever know… so please… please… wake up soon…”

She sniffled again, feeling hot and dry and itching. Silently, she slipped free of her robes and into her nightclothes. She knew what was happening, how could she not? 

Her hands trembled with the effort, her tongue felt like lead in her mouth, her muscles as weak as jelly. But still, she persisted. She forced herself through her trembles, iced herself over to cool the feverish heat building within.

Oh how it _burned_, to move. To think. To blink. To do anything but lie still and accept the inevitable.

But she had felt worse, back when she was but an empty doll, beaten and abused. What little healing spells she knew went to repairing herself as she fell apart, all so she could finally rest, rest and hold her lover Louise, hold her close and whisper sweet nothings in her ear in the hopes that she might awaken.

“My love… remember… remember Albion… the first time we were there? When we met Tiffania…?” Tabitha murmured, giggling as a sudden surge of delirium welled up from within, a burst of endorphins that washed through her mind and gave her a sudden feeling of peace.

“I think… I think that was when I started to fall in love with you… you were so powerful, so magnificent… And I… I hadn’t known at the time but oh I do so love you now…”

Breathing was like trying to inhale a thick soup, settling cold and hard in unresponsive lungs.

“Louise… my love… my dearest… please wake up… I don’t… I could never blame you for all of this… it isn’t your fault… I wanted to tell you this but I couldn’t… I was scared, so scared that you would try to join the fight…” 

She coughed again, a long, bloody, wheezing cough that left her doubled over as blood stained the pristine sheets in thick droplets so dark as to almost be black.

“I’m sorry my love… I wish… I wish I could have done more for you… I don’t… I don’t think I’ll make it,” Tabitha whispered, pressing one last, gentle kiss to Louise’s lips.

“I love you, Louise… Goodbye…”

Tabitha closed her eyes, one last time, her hand intertwined with Louise’s until her last breath.

“... I love you too… Tabitha…”


	65. Chapter 65

“... Tabby?” Louise whispered, slowly opening her eyes as the world registered to her again.

Something was wrong. She could feel Tabitha with her but… she couldn’t?

Oh no.

No no no no no no!

“Tabby? Tabitha?” Louise rolled over, shifting to her hands and knees as she gently shook the shoulder of her lover, her all, the last living soul in the world that she loved and was loved by. Her skin was pale, her lips flecked with blood.

Her touch, cold as ice.

Louise shuddered, grasping Tabitha’s hands, shaking her head as tears dripped down, hot and steady, stinging her eyes as if trying to spread the pain out from the yawning chasm now present in her heart.

“ADAM no…. Tabby! Tabitha, please… don’t… don’t leave me…” Louise whispered, gathering Tabitha’s still body in her arms and hugging it close, weeping as she tried to will her girlfriend back to life. “You… you’re the only one I have left! You can’t leave me!”

Loud screams tore from her throat, an unearthly wail of despair as she fell back upon the bloodied sheets, burying her face in the cold, unmoving shoulder of her lover, desperate to feel some kind of warmth from her lips again.

“Please… please don’t…. Please… please come back…. I can’t- I can’t do this without you…” Louise wept, wiping her tears away even as more and more flowed without end. “I love you… please… Tabby… come back to me…”

No answer.

Louise didn’t expect one anyway.

After all, the world just _loved_ to give her hope and rip it all away, didn’t it? 

She chuckled mirthlessly, gently brushing her fingers against Tabitha’s cheek as she stood and stared out the window, the faintest tremors of the far away battle shaking the palace even half a nation away.

“It’s my fault, isn’t it? It always seems to be… Everything that I’ve done in the past few years just rolled all the way downhill and now it’s the _end of the fucking world_. My parents are dead, my sisters are dead, my friends and classmates are dead, all my girlfriends are dead and you!” Louise whirled around and pointed at Tabitha’s still body, tears still dripping down her face as her momentary burst of rage twisted into bleak despair. “... I was going to ask you to marry me, you know? I… I already had a ring prepared, back at home… I was going to invite you over and propose…”

Louise sighed, stumbling unsteadily back to the bed and planting one last kiss on Tabitha’s lips.

She tasted of ash and blood, and yet, still the sweet taste of Tabitha remained, buried beneath.

Fitting, for what she would have to do in the aftermath of all this.

“But it’s not my fault, this time. The angels decided to act outside my will, Shinji came here of his own volition… and that… that _thing_... he’s the one that got you k-killed…” Louise took a bracing breath, biting her lip and trying not to break down again as she felt a warmth settle over her shoulders, the faintest hint of blue appearing in the corner of her vision as her core _pulsed_ with warmth, with power, with _life_.

“But we’re not done yet. Tristain is gone.. But Ramiel still lives. There’s still a few Angels left to fight that monster… And I suppose… I suppose I should go and join them, right?”

Louise took a deep breath and braced herself.

A warm breeze ruffled her hair, swirling around as she began to draw forth her rage, her passion, her love, her hate, her happiness, her determination. Her _will_.

She could feel her core, burning within as her soul struggled to loose its mortal bonds, to slip free of the shackles that she had unknowingly placed upon herself.

Her AT-Field _flexed_, the expression of her soul snapping out and dying the air a bright, burning orange. 

And as she unleashed her true self, she flew on wings of white light, one last whisper to Tabitha dying in the wind.

“Watch over me, my love…”

<>

The twin Zeruels stumbled and fell, cores cracked and bodies battered as they struck the ground, too damaged to continue on. Azariel covered the ground in hundreds of shattered spikes of metal, her core half buried in a mound of rock, barely intact and covered in craters. Ramiel, not her Ramiel but the smaller, less terrifying one, lay on the ground, dissolving into a puddle of blood as her core cracked and shattered.

Gendo stood, no longer lost in howling madness but cold, methodical rage. How _dare_ these insects stand in his way, how dare they nearly risk destroying all his plans with their simpleminded attacks? His AT-Field was strong, but not so strong that it could reliably keep both him and Yui, _his_ Yui alive. But she remained, slightly injured, sunburnt and bruised from the violence that had been happening for the past several hours, but still alive.

If only these pathetic insects would leave him be to collect his wife, instead of trying to stop him at every turn!

With a snarl of rage, Gendo lashed out once more, four eyes flashing with burning heat and causing the snakelike angel, Raziel, to erupt into a burning cross, reaching into the sky and carrying her dying screams as her core shattered from the sheer force of the blow.

Pathetic.

And yet, even as the angels struggled to face him, battered, burned, on the verge of death as they were, something felt wrong. Gendo paused, looked up. Made a single motion with his hand.

Sahaquiel _erupted_ into a shower of blood, rainbow scales giving away to a torrential, steaming downpour as her last ditch suicide attack was halted before she could even hit the lower stratosphere, a false Lance of Longinus piercing through her core and killing her instantly, too fast to even let her _scream_.

Gendo nodded silently at Kyuu, standing on the edge of the massive crater with the newly reformed Mark.09, twirling a lance in her hands as she descended once more.

They paused as one as an AT-Field approached, full of rage and anguish, hatred so powerful it darkened the skies and turned day into a burning, bloody night.

“GENDO IKARI! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Louise screamed, titanic in size, pale of flesh and red of eyes, a direct mirror off the visage of Lilith- but in the shape of Asuka instead of Rei- as she touched down with enough force that the earth shook, her wings reaching to the heavens as she stated her challenge.

Gendo merely raised two of his hands in a wordless challenge.

“Then come.”


	66. Finale

“RAAAAGGHH!! STAND STILL AND DIE ALREADY!” Louise screamed, lashing out with the full might of her magic. She didn’t even bother forming it into spells, just throwing out power from her soul and blasting Gendo around the massive crater in the earth, tearing it asunder with heat and flame as Ramiel’s high intensity beams scattered across his AT-Field, ringing off and deflecting into the ground and air with a snapping hiss of expanding gas and the ringing sound of a massive bell. 

Louise’s screams of fury and anguish shook the earth, drowning out all other noise as she battered at the nearly impenetrable AT-Field of a god born of the folly of man. How!? How was this man, this _monster_ so unaffected!? How was this pathetic, disgusting pile of refuse so strong willed that he could shrug off a blow so strong that the mere wind of its passing gouged the earth for miles around?

Kyuu struggled to her feet against the raging hurricane of Louise’s soul, gritting her teeth as she just barely managed to keep a hold of her Lance of Longinus, the shaft creaking and twisting in her grip as she stabbed it into the ground and used it to anchor herself.

She bit her lip, the Mark.09 growling as it fended off the twin blasts that came from what remained of the last two threats in her path- Zeruels one and two, still alive, slowly regenerating, and very, very angry. She hissed, waiting for a lull in activity before she fought through the raging wind, projecting her AT-Field out to max strength and _slamming_ it outwards. Protected from the wind finally, Kyuu roared as she ripped her Lance from the ground and impaled one of the two Zeruels right in the core, flinging it away from her in a shower of blood, splattering the muck beneath their feet in steaming gouts of red. 

Kyuu didn’t care, barely managing to block another blast from the remaining Zeruel as she withdrew her field just in time to reset its form into a wall, gritting her teeth and groaning as the heat of the beam made her hands _burn_. But she didn’t falter. With a roar of effort that came out as more of a bestial shriek, she charged through the beam, angling her AT-Field to the side as she drove Mark.09 to its limits and _flung_ the damaged Angel away, panting as it sailed across the crater and just barely missed the crystalline form of Ramiel, who immediately turned and fired and nearly took off her head in a single instant.

This wasn’t the simple grab and go that the Commander had described, not even the worst case skirmish that she had thought would happen.

No, this was the _end of the world_, and here Kyuu was, watching the Commander get thrown around like a ragdoll, unharmed though his AT-Field continued to take ungodly amounts of damage, his will too powerful to buckle under the strain. No- Kyuu paused and gasped, immediately turning and running, snatching up the lance she had thrown away and charging into battle once more. The Commander’s AT-Field was _failing_, unable to handle the damage, unable to keep up with it all as he was thrown around again and again and again by that new Angel, the one that looked like a human girl.

Louise’s howls of rage matched perfectly against Gendo’s silence, the only noise that could be heard from him was but the creaking of metal and ceramics as flesh bruised and bones fractured. His Soul was strong, but even he had limits.

Gendo would have sneered had he still had the face for it, taking advantage of the briefest lull in activity to surge to his feet and _shatter_ the next wave of energy with his AT-Field, staggering him and Louise both but giving Kyuu enough time to charge forth with a mighty battlecry, her Lance of Longinus raised and poised to shatter her core-!

A mighty, thundering bellow interrupted her charge, thick ribbons of black, iron-like flesh snapping out of the ground and slicing through Mark.09’s arm in an explosion of blood and core material, crackling and snapping from the sheer force the ribbons had. 

Kyuu barely held back a scream as she clutched her arm, looking about frantically and wondering- no, the last angel! It hadn’t died!? Kyuu leapt away, Mark.09 lumbering and halfway unresponsive as the damage to its balance took its toll. Sprawled out in an ungraceful pile and barely able to flip back to her feet a moment later, Kyuu glared as Zeruel pulled itself from the ground and _screamed_ with such fury that it halted the battle, stunning the last living souls in Tristain for just long enough that it could surge forth and envelop Kyuu in its tendrils.

“ZERUEL! NO!” Ramiel shrieked, helplessly reaching out with a spire of crystal as Zeruel’s core glowed with hellish light, burning hot with the remnants of her energy as her mask shifted into a manic grin, smashed up against Mark.09’s single eye as she spoke one last word.

“Boom.”

Kyuu ejected and the world went _white_, a tremendous howl of wind and heat so powerful that even from the desert sands to the far south, it was more like a wall of destruction than a sound.

Into the sky, a cross of light.

Another soul snuffed out.

Ramiel howled, drowned out by the sound of the explosion even as everything in ground zero was flung away or turned to ash, leaving behind a molten pit that bubbled and burst until the heat of the explosion vaporized that as well.

Louise groaned, choking on smoke and dust, trembling from the effort of protecting her core from Zeruel’s last hurrah. She burned all over, pale, godlike flesh turned red and raw, burned and bubbling as she slowly healed. 

It wasn’t enough, though. She barely had the energy left to stand after taking that blow, and Gendo… that _monster_, was still alive. Burned, battered, missing two limbs and almost entirely uncovered from having his armor blown off, but in far better shape than she.

She grit her teeth, baring them in a parody of a smile as she realized the ironic truth.

“You bastard…” she hissed, glaring at Gendo as he slowly approached and baring her core, letting it shine with the souls trapped inside. “She’s _already dead_. You _killed her_ you monster…. The woman you came to get… Ayanami Yui… is _dead_ because of yo- hurk!”

Gendo lashed out, cutting Louise’s words off with a vicious stomp to the gut, a wordless howl of rage tearing from his previously silent throat as his AT-Field warped, blistering and filled with the heat of his rage, a lance materializing in solid, bloody red and thrust deep into Louise’s belly. She howled in agony, tearing at the thing pinning her to the ground, scrabbling futilely at the burning thing before Gendo’s foot smashed into her face, breaking flesh and bone and snapping her neck in an instant. She healed, and Gendo continued to stomp her into the ground, growling and screaming like the monster he was as he crushed her limbs, battered her body, destroyed her organs.

So focused on her complete and utter _dismantling_ was he that he never noticed the tiny blue speck racing across the ground, never noticed the sheer _hatred_ building up in Ramiel’s AT-Field. Never noticed as his own field was neutralized and the lance pinning Louise to the ground vanished.

He noticed when Ramiel roared to full size again in an instant, crystal spikes impaling him through the chest and gut within a fraction of a second before a blast of pure rage in the form of a solidified AT-Field crushing into his body sent him flying upwards, dazed and confused as his limbs shattered and he was sent into low orbit.

“Louise!” Ramiel gasped as she shrunk back down, landing upon the prone form of her Master and patting her face, watching as she shrank down to human size, her core throbbing weakly from the energy she’d expended just trying to stay alive. “Louise! Hey! Hey! Stay with me!”

“... Ramiel….?” Louise asked blearily, staring up at the blue haired form of her Familiar and wondering why she was on the ground, and wondering why she felt like death. “D-did…. Did we win…..?”

Ramiel shook her head, biting back tears as a sudden surge of emotion tore through her core and left a lump in her throat that wouldn’t go away. “Not yet… not yet…. I have a plan but… I’m sorry, Louise. I’m… it’s….”

Ramiel hugged Louise close and sobbed, choking on her words before laying Louise down again, gently, oh so gently. The air shimmered with heat, and the cloud of smoke towering into the sky thundered with static discharge, but where Louise lay on the ground, there was grass. 

She smiled thinly, cupping Louise’s chin and pressing their lips together one last time.

“I’m gonna have to break my promise. Goodbye Louise… I’ll see you on the other side.”

And she was gone.

Louise blinked slowly, watching the drifting dust settle before realizing in mute horror what was about to happen. A tug of magic thrummed through her core, a connection long forgotten springing to life once again as Ramiel turned the key to her own destruction. 

Louise felt it, deep in her soul.

The power that Ramiel had been saving for so long, the delicate structures of Ramiel’s extra-dimensional machinery.

The single, precise blow of void magic that shattered the protections of her core and caused a thermonuclear chain reaction.

As a new sun bloomed over Halkeginia, Louise wept.

Gendo was dead, but so was most of the world.

They had won, but everyone she loved was lost.

Louise wept, cold and shivering despite the heat.

The world was empty, blasted and battered, the entirety of the Halkeginian continent turned to lifeless waste.

For hundreds of miles around, there was nothing.

Louise wept, for the world had been brought to an end by her own hand. By the very magic that bound her to her first and truest best friend.

The world was gone, ended in a wave of blinding heat and light and _fire_, scoured clean by the Thunder of God- no, the Thunder of Zero.

And she wept.

Forevermore.


	67. 66.1 Epilogue 1

Leliel peered out over the broken land, wincing as she took in what was definitely going to be the hardest nuclear winter since… well, like, probably the worst one ever, honestly. Not even the dinosaurs had gotten this much shit thrown at them.

“Jeez… what a mess…” she sighed, shaking her head and crossing her arms, stepping out of a puddle of shadow on the floor and kneeling down to pat Louise’s back, the smaller girl having cried herself unconscious at some point. “How long do you think this is gonna take to fix?”

“With enough manpower? We should have enough of the place re-seeded with life that we can reintroduce humanity… and elves too I guess… within… say… eh, give or take two or three hundred years? Give or take a century,” Lilith answered, stepping out from the space between spaces with an unconscious Armisael slung under her arm. 

“Sounds like a plan, but are you sure it’s gonna take that long?” Leliel asked, furrowing her brow before she really considered the extent of the damage, calculating just how much mass that still floating smoke pillar must have really had if it held enough mass to form a crater _that_ big, then calculating again how much matter had to have been ejected into space from the repeated impacts.

“..... Nevermind, we’re gonna be here a while,” Leliel sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Well, no time better to start than now! Let’s get crackin! Wait, how are we gonna get the stuff back from space?”

Lilith just sighed, sitting back on a conveniently lounge chair shaped rock as she prepared to do something _really_ unpleasant.


	68. 66.2 Epilogue 2

Life. Creeping across the land slowly but surely as Lilith pulled material out of the air, taking it in and turning it into the LCL of her lifeblood. Around her, hard at work, the reborn angels churned the earth, reshaping the jagged peaks and craggy valleys of the land into something more livable, more similar to the gentle, low mountains of Tristain. It was slow going, but still moving along. Such was the scale of their project, after all. Anything worth doing was worth doing right, and they _had_ to make it right after their monumental fuckup.

Up in space, the twin Sahaquiels and Arael flitted around the planetary orbit, gathering the irregular chunks of the material that had been ejected from the planet’s gravity and sending them back to the surface through the stretched taut form of Leliel, hovering with them as a sheet of flat black, shadowed by a sphere of white and black stripes.

Lilith sighed, watching as the land slowly took shape. Yes, the past few years had been slow, but they truly were hitting their stride. In her core, she could feel the very last of ADAM’s children awakening, the damaged, battered soul slowly pulling itself together again. She smiled and continued on with her work. It wasn’t yet time, not even close, but she was almost there, almost there.

She just needed a little bit more time to heal.

And then…

Well, and then little Louise would finally have her thunder back, wouldn’t she?


	69. 66.3 Epilogue 3

Gendo Ikari opened his eyes, human again, though he could feel the power thrumming in his veins, the crimson orb that took the place of his heart.

Frankly, he hadn’t even expected to open them again except in hell, so that was a nice surprise. Above him, a perfect blue sky, with wispy puffs of white clouds. Below him, soft, green grass. And in the middle distance, a foot above his own face, the visage of his wife, Yui Ayanami, smiling gently as she cupped his face and helped him sit up.

“... Is it over?” he asked, blinking slowly and looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. “... Is this heaven?”

“No, it’s Halkeginia- you know, the planet you trashed?” Yui spoke, smiling in that way he’d thought was so mysterious back in college but now knew was nothing less than completely satisfied bliss, a bliss so powerful he’d only ever seen it twice before- once right after Second Impact, the other right as she’d discorporated and gained control of Evangelion Unit-01. “Welcome back honey. That was the literal _best_ reunion gift you could have _ever_ given me.”

“What, me breaking into another world with godly powers or me destroying the planet?”

“Yes. Now come on, our second honeymoon awaits!”

Standing a slight distance away from the reunited couple, Gendo Rokubungi and Yui Ikari watched as they all but skipped away, a profound expression of disappointment on both their faces. Tabris was there too, slightly horrified and thanking his lucky stars that Shinji didn’t inherit _any_ of his parents’ fetishes.

“Damn. And I thought making Rei turn the world into LCL would have been a good gift,” Gendo muttered, rubbing his chin as Yui patted his back comfortingly. “How am I supposed to measure up to _that?_”

“There there, dear. It’s not the end of- well, I guess it actually was. Eh… hm. You think they’ll let us join them?” Yui wondered aloud, both of them pausing for a moment before chasing off after their counterparts.

Kaworu just sighed, pinching his brow and really, really, _really_ wishing he hadn’t heard any of that.

“Fucking Ikaris and their megalomaniacal planetary destruction fetish…”


	70. 66.4 Epilogue 4

A blood red crystal, a kiss.

A scream, a command.

An adventure, a bitter farewell.

A death…

A rebirth.

Ramiel opened her eyes slowly, as if she couldn’t really comprehend her status as _alive_ again. She’d died, hadn’t she? No, but then… then there was the irresistible pull of the Doors of Guf, the darkness for a few years… the ache of a shattered soul… the warmth and light as Lilith helped her heal.

How long had it been? How long had she left Louise alone?

“Almost two hundred years,” came a quiet voice, making Ramiel realize she’d spoken aloud in the midst of her musings. “You’ve been dead almost two hundred years.”

“Ah.” Ramiel sat up slowly, getting used to her human body again and flexing her hands. She felt… different, if only slightly. Her hair was shorter, and her crystal structure was truly whole again, not the almost whole she’d been for just about the entire time before her untimely death.

The woman beside her smiled thinly, tears beading up in her eyes. 

Ramiel furrowed her brow, trying to place just who this woman was before the light caught her hair. A beautiful, pale strawberry pink, flowing in the sudden breeze. A familiar facial structure, buried under two centuries of time despite not looking a day over twenty.

“... Louise…?” Ramiel whispered, shakily reaching out with a single hand.

“It’s me,” Louise nodded, her smile widening until it split her face in two, crushing Ramiel into a tight, warm hug that felt like _home_. “Welcome back, you stupid, stupid angel… welcome back…”

“... It’s good to be back,” Ramiel relaxed, letting her joy run wild in the form of hot, tearful sobs. “I’m never leaving you again. This time I promise for real.”


	71. 66.5 Epilogue 5

“My love… it’s been a while,” Louise whispered, gently stroking through Tabitha’s hair as her dearest love slept soundly upon a bed of finest silks. Louise had shrunken a bit, reverting to how she’d been before the end. She smiled down at Tabitha’s still form, feeling the gentle beating of her heart through her skin, strong and healthy. Louise fought the urge to kiss her right then and there- as much as she wished for Tabitha to wake as soon as possible, she deserved a bit of extra rest, didn’t she?

Still, though…

Louise slipped beneath the covers and gently clasped Tabitha’s hands in hers, silently pressing against Tabitha’s side and letting her eyes rest. She sighed, squeezing Tabitha’s hand, and finally, _finally_ spoke, finally able to get the words out that she should have said so long ago. 

“... I’m… sorry. I never really wanted this to happen… the end of the world… but it did and you’re here again… as if you never died. I could feel you then, you know?” Louise murmured, gently lifting Tabitha’s hand to her lips and pressing a chaste kiss to her knuckles. “You helped me that whole time, you were in my core even after you died… I couldn’t have done… anything without you. I’ve… it’s been two hundred years, and… all the others are waiting for you, you know? We’re all alive again, every last one of us… we’re just waiting on you my love, my dearest, my beautiful winter moon… So please… wake up soon… Tabitha… So I can finally tell you one more time… I love you.”

“... I love you too… Louise.”


	72. 66.6 Epilogue Final

Battered and bruised, a little broken but not bleeding.

It was better than death, though. She hadn’t even expected to wake up again, though how long she’d been unconscious, she didn’t know.

Kyuu stepped free of the dented, irradiated, rusted, decayed, thoroughly trashed entry plug that had carried her away from the closest thing any world had ever seen to true and total hell, and into what might as well have been a different kind of hell.

She sighed, squinting out across the desert sands as what almost looked like a _star_ burst to life in the sky for a few minutes before dying out, silhouetted by the form of a titanic white figure. She knew, in her heart of hearts, that the Commander was dead (probably. She didn’t know what miracles might have occurred during the time she was gone). After all, even with the power of what might as well have been a literal god, Gendo still had his limits. And well, he had been on the verge of reaching them right before she’d nearly died.

Oh well.

“What a pain…” Kyuu sighed, gritting her teeth and wincing as the motion jostled her broken arm. She shook her head and sighed again, trudging forward and cresting the sand dune she’d landed on. She didn’t know how far she’d been thrown, or how long it would take to get back… but she had some emergency supplies still, and she’d absorbed enough energy during the fight that she could definitely feel a nascent core pulsing away in her chest, just waiting for one last kick of energy before it would propel her into near immortality.

She shook her head and continued on. If her core would keep her alive and her supplies would keep her from freezing or burning to death, then there was nothing left to do but walk.

And walk.

And walk some more.

Idly, Kyuu began humming under her breath, a tune that was so imprinted into her mind that she knew for a damn well fact that it had been carried through her soul from her previous version.

_”Fly me to the moon~ And let me play among the stars~ Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars...”_


	73. Credits

[](https://imgur.com/6YhRsY7)

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